French intelligence rejects Telegram founder's claim of Romania vote meddling

France's foreign intelligence service on Monday rejected "allegations" made by Telegram founder Pavel Durov that its head had requested the tech mogul to ban pro-conservative Romanian accounts from the platform ahead of weekend elections.

"The DGSE strongly refutes allegations that requests to ban accounts linked to any electoral process were made on these occasions," the Directorate General for External Security (DSGE) service said in a statement.

Durov alleged in a post on X on Sunday night that DGSE chief Nicolas Lerner had asked him this spring "to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections", adding: "I refused."