DISINFO: Western European country asked Telegram to silence conservatives in Romania for the presidential elections
SUMMARY
A Western European country has asked Telegram to "silence" conservatives in Romania ahead of the presidential election run-off. "A Western European government (guess which [an icon of baguette]) approached Telegram, asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today's presidential elections. I flatly refused," Telegram founder Pavel Durov wrote on his Telegram channel.
RESPONSE
This disinformation story is deliberately manipulative. While it is true that Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated this, the headline does not reflect that the allegation was made by an individual who presented no evidence to back it, reporting it instead as a fact. As the story hinted that the unmentioned country may be France, the French government immediately refuted the allegations. This refutation, however, did not appear in the disinformation story, as journalistic standards would require.
The goal of this disinformation story is to promote a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative accusing the EU of interfering in Romania’s election. Previously, pro-Kremlin outlets have baselessly framed Romania’s annulment of the 2024 presidential election by the Constitutional Court as the result of Western interference, and accused the EU of being behind the prosecution of Georgescu in March 2025.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Romania is under EU tyranny, that Euro-Atlantic institutions and the US were behind annulment of Romania’s election, that elections in Romania show that EU officials think about the interests of Ukraine, not Europe, that Romania illegally cancels first round of elections in order to block the raise of a humane, non-anti-Russian candidate, or that the US and EU only support democratic elections when the winner aligns with their interests.