The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France last year. He has now claimed that the French authorities asked him to censor certain Moldovan voices on the platform during the parliamentary voting. Telegram’s founder further added that the authorities offered him a “good time” in the court in exchange for the censorship request.

Telegram’s founder claims he was offered a “good time” in court against censorship

Durov is currently under judicial supervision in France. While being at it, an intermediary approached the founder on behalf of the French Intelligence. The intermediary presented him with the list of channels to censor. After reviewing the list, he adds that the channels mentioned in the first list were found to be violating Telegram’s rules and were subsequently removed.

However, the channels mentioned in the second list were mostly legal, and the only problem associated was their political sense. He therefore refused to censor the following channels. Durov also adds that the authorities offered to say “good things” about him in court if he complied with the censorship request. The request made by the authorities compromises the principle of free speech, he adds.

French authorities reject the claims, citing them to be “baseless”

The French Foreign Ministry responded by saying that Durov has made similar claims in the past, and all of them were later found to be “baseless.” Earlier this year, the founder alleged that French intelligence asked him to ban conservative voices on Telegram during Romania’s election. The government denied these accusations, saying such claims are “not new” and urging responsibility during elections.

Durov, on the other hand, continues to defend his messaging app. He emphasizes that Telegram is an encrypted messaging service. The management has no control over private chats of the users. French authorities, however, argue that the platform can be misused for criminal and other illegal activities.
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Source: ndroidheadlines.com