Pavel Durov reveals what the French government wanted with Telegram data

Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, has accused the French government of carrying out geopolitical surveillance in Eastern Europe under the guise of child pornography and terrorism investigations.

Halfway through Monday, Durov said in an X post that he had direct talks with the DGSE, France’s foreign intelligence agency, in an alleged effort to counteract child abuse content and terrorism threats. The true goal, he maintained, was political.

French foreign intelligence confirmed they met with me — allegedly to fight terrorism and child porn. In reality, child porn was never even mentioned. They did want IPs of terror suspects in France, but their main focus was always geopolitics: Romania, Moldova, Ukraine.

— Pavel Durov (@durov) May 19, 2025

CP investigations were a facade, says Durov

According to Durov, Telegram has implemented strong anti-child abuse measures since 2018, including content fingerprinting, dedicated moderation teams, NGO hotlines, and transparency reports. 

“Falsely implying Telegram did nothing to remove child porn is a manipulation tactic,” he added, claiming that the French demands were framed deceptively.

The Telegram CEO was detained at Le Bourget airport in Paris in August 2024. He was held and interrogated for several days before being charged with multiple violations related to Telegram’s handling of extremist content. French authorities released Durov on a €5 million ($5.6 million) bail after formally placing him under investigation.

In a public statement, the DGSE admitted they were in contact with Durov and confirmed it had reminded him “firmly” of his personal and corporate responsibilities of fighting terrorist threats and child exploitation content on Telegram.

On X, one commenter to Durov’s post suggested French authorities were using child protection as a pretense to track dissidents.

“They want the IPs to identify conservatives speaking up against the stolen election in Romania and the corruption in Ukraine,” they wrote.

Political analyst and former New York Times contributor John Macgregor also backed Durov’s sentiments, stating, “You have a reputation for honesty & integrity. The French intelligence service has a reputation for lying, conniving & murder. So I think I might trust you on this one.”

France denies allegations of election interference in Romania

On Sunday, Durov had accused French intelligence chief Nicolas Lerner of attempting to interfere in Romania’s recent presidential election. The CEO propounded that Lerner made the request at a private meeting in the historic Salon des Batailles at Paris’ Hôtel de Crillon.

“This spring, Nicolas Lerner asked me to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections. I refused. We didn’t block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We won’t start doing it in Europe,” he noted.

In a statement released on Monday, the French intelligence service refuted the claims, reiterating that it did not request Telegram to ban accounts linked to “any electoral process on these occasions.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s Kremlin asserted that France’s interference in Romania’s recent presidential election was “not news.”

“The fact that European countries, France, Great Britain, Germany, are interfering in the internal affairs of other countries is not news,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday. “These are just bits and pieces that are being brought to light.”

Telegram dismantles $35 billion illicit crypto network

In other regulatory updates, Telegram has taken down Haowang Guarantee, previously known as Huione Guarantee, a massive illicit crypto marketplace that had facilitated over $27 billion in stablecoin transactions since 2021.

The takedown followed investigations by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, which linked the network to widespread crypto-fraud operations by suspected Chinese crime syndicates.

Telegram also shut down Xinbi Guarantee, another illicit marketplace that processed $8.4 billion in stablecoins since its launch in 2022. Together, Huione and Xinbi processed more than $35 billion in illicit transactions, according to Elliptic.

Elliptic noted that these figures dwarf several dark web markets. By comparison, Silk Road and AlphaBay, two of the most infamous darknet marketplaces, processed just $216 million and $639 million, respectively.

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