Founder of the popular messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, has claimed that France’s intelligence chief requested the suppression of Romanian conservative voices on the platform ahead of national elections—a request he says he firmly rejected.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) late Sunday, Durov alleged that Nicolas Lerner, head of France’s intelligence agency, approached him at an event in Paris this spring with the request to ban Romanian conservative users.

“This spring at the Salon des Batailles in the Hôtel de Crillon, Nicolas Lerner, head of French intelligence, asked me to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections. I refused,” Durov wrote. “We didn’t block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We won’t start doing it in Europe.”

The statement came just hours after Romania’s centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicușor Dan, pulled off a surprise win in the presidential election, defeating a hard-right nationalist challenger who had aligned his platform with the political style of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Earlier in the day, the French foreign ministry issued a strong denial in response to an earlier, indirect message by Durov on Telegram that hinted at France’s involvement using a baguette emoji. “France categorically rejects these allegations and calls on everyone to exercise responsibility and respect for Romanian democracy,” the ministry said in a statement.