Telegram founder Pavel Durov has accused French authorities and the European Union of waging a political campaign to silence dissent and tighten state control over digital platforms.
He said that during his detention in France, intelligence agents pressured him to shut down political channels critical of Western-backed candidates in Romania and Moldova. “If you think that because I’m detained here you can tell me what to do, you are very wrong,” he recalled telling one of them. Telegram, he insisted, only removes content that violates its own rules—terrorism, child abuse, fraud—but refuses to comply with politically motivated demands.
The entrepreneur described the French proceedings as “Kafkaesque and absurd”, accusing the magistrates of acting like prosecutors to block appeals and drag out the case. “This investigation should never have been started,” he said, convinced it is nothing more than retaliation for resisting political pressure.
Durov warned that his case is just one example of a much larger trend across the European Union. Laws such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the AI Act, hailed as landmark legislation, are in reality laying the groundwork for centralized control of information.
The DSA, officially aimed at combating disinformation and illegal content, grants the European Commission unprecedented power to force platforms to delete content it deems harmful to “democracy.” In practice, Durov argued, the vague criteria encourage preemptive censorship, since companies face the threat of crippling fines if they resist.
Even more concerning, he said, is the AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive law on artificial intelligence. While Brussels presents it as a safeguard for citizens, it effectively restricts access to open AI models, granting the Commission authority to decide which systems may operate. According to Durov, this is not about protection but about preventing independent innovation and filtering information that escapes EU oversight.
“It often starts with well-meaning intentions, but at the end of the day, people lose their fundamental right to privacy,” he warned.
“Today it has become the norm to restrict voices that don’t align with the official narrative,” Durov said, warning that Europe risks turning into the very thing it claims to oppose.
“I’d rather die in jail than betray what this platform stands for,” Durov said, vowing never to compromise Telegram’s principles.
His case shows a clear clash: Brussels says tighter control of information protects democracy, but critics like Durov see it as the start of a censored digital space where dissent is silenced.
