The founder of the Telegram messaging application, Pavel Durov, said Sunday that he had rejected a request from a western government, which did not appoint, to “silence” the conservative voices in Romania before a runoff of presidential elections there.
The Romanians are heading to the surveys on Sunday in a runoff that faces a hard -right -wing Euresceptic against an independent penny. The result of the contest will have significant implications both for the economy in difficulties of Romania and for the unity of the European Union.
The vote is carried out almost six months after the initial vote was canceled due to the alleged Russian interference denied by Moscow in favor of the favorite of the extreme right, Còlin Georgescu, who was forbidden to stand again.
“A Government of Western Europe … He approached Telegram, asking us to silence the conservative voices in Romania before today’s presidential elections. I fell flatly,” Durov wrote on Telegram.
“Telegram will not restrict the freedoms of Romanian users or block their political channels,” said Durov, adding an emoji or a baguette that could hint to France.
“You cannot” defend democracy “destroying democracy. You cannot” fight against electoral interference “when interfering with elections. Or it has freedom of expression and fair elections, or does not. And the Romanian people deserve,”
Durov, born in Russia but now French National, was arrested last year in France in the midst of an investigation into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions associated with the application.
In March, Durov, quietly, returned to Dubai.
