Pavel Durov’s comments follow a fine against Musk’s X for alleged breaches of platform rules.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov has accused the EU of unfairly targeting social media platforms that allow speech that is dissenting or critical.
His statement followed a 2024 post by X owner Elon Musk, who alleged the European Commission offered X a clandestine agreement: avoid fines by censoring specific statements. The day before, the EU had fined X €120 million ($140 million).
Durov contends that the EU imposes strict, unrealistic rules on tech companies as a method to penalize those that don’t adhere to unspoken censorship demands.
“The EU imposes impossible rules so it can punish tech firms that refuse to silently censor free speech,” Durov posted on X on Saturday.
He also mentioned his detention in France last year, which he believes was politically motivated. He alleged that the head of France’s DGSE requested he “ban conservative voices in Romania” before an election, an accusation French officials have denied. He further stated that intelligence agents offered to assist with his case if Telegram quietly removed channels related to Moldova’s election.
Durov reiterated both claims in his recent post, describing the situation as “a baseless criminal investigation” followed by pressure to censor speech in Romania and Moldova.
Later that Saturday, Durov wrote: “The EU exclusively targets platforms that host inconvenient or dissenting speech (Telegram, X, TikTok…). Platforms that algorithmically silence people are left largely untouched, despite far more serious illegal content issues.”
Last year, Elon Musk claimed the European Commission offered X “an illegal secret deal” to censor content discreetly. “If we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not,” he wrote.
On Friday, European Commission spokesperson Tom Rainier stated the EU fined X €120 million for violations of the Digital Services Act. He asserted the fine was unrelated to censorship and marked the first enforcement under the law. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the action on X, calling it “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments.”
Both Durov and Musk have faced pressure from EU regulators under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which took effect in 2023. The law mandates platforms to promptly remove illegal content, though critics argue it can be used to suppress lawful expression.
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