Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram messaging app, has said that a West European country asked him to silence conservative voices in Romania, which he rejected. He said that the request came ahead of the presidential elections in Romania today.
Durov posted on the Telegram app, “A Western European government approached Telegram, asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections. I flatly refused. Telegram will not restrict the freedoms of Romanian users or block their political channels.”
He also added “guess which 🥖” after the words Western European government, including an emoji of baguette. This is enough indication that he was probably referring to France, as the baguette is a long, narrow French loaf.
Pavel Durov further added, “You can’t “defend democracy” by destroying democracy. You can’t “fight election interference” by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don’t. And the Romanian people deserve both.” He ended the post with the emoji of Romanian flag.
The Romanian presidential election is seeing a close contest between far-right anti-EU George Simion and centrist pro-EU Nicușor Dan, the current Bucharest Mayor. Notably, in November last year, far-right independent candidate Calin Georgescu had won the first round of the election. But Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election, alleging irregularities in the financing and organisation of the leading campaign, including allegations of Russian influence. Georgescu was also banned from contesting the election.
As per reports, George Simion is well placed to win the elections, resulting in the installation of a right-wing government in the country. Notably, Simion wants to merge Moldova, along with some parts of Ukraine inhabited by ethnic Romanians, with Romania, to create a united Romania.
The election in Romania is important because it is a member of both the European Union and NATO. As it borders Ukraine, it is in very important position in the current geopolitical situation.
