Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov will be unable to attend the Oslo Freedom Forum held in Oslo, Norway, in person, as a French court denied his request to travel to the Scandinavian country.
According to the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) — a non-profit organization advocating for universal human rights and individual freedoms, and the organizer of the Oslo Freedom Forum — Pavel will still deliver his keynote speech remotely via live stream.
“It is regrettable that the French court has prevented Mr. Durov from participating in an event that so desperately needs his voice,” said HRF founder and CEO Thor Halvorssen.
Pavel has been a staunch advocate for freedom of speech and individual liberties. Executives in the tech and crypto industries are closely monitoring developments related to Pavel Durov and the impact of his ongoing legal battles in France on personal freedoms.
Pavel Durov recently accused French intelligence officials of requesting him to censor conservative political content related to the Romanian presidential election on the Telegram platform.
Pavel stated that he categorically rejected this request. “You cannot ‘defend democracy’ by undermining it. You cannot ‘combat election interference’ by interfering in elections,” he wrote in a Telegram post on May 18.
Although the Telegram founder initially did not disclose the names of the intelligence officials or EU countries that requested him to censor content, Pavel later revealed more specific information. He wrote in a post on X on May 18:
“This spring, at the Salon des Batailles in the Crillon Hotel, the head of the French intelligence agency, Nicolas Lerner, asked me to ban conservative voices before the Romanian elections. I refused. We do not block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We will not start doing so in Europe.”
Pavel has repeatedly stated that Telegram will not censor political content on the platform, preferring to exit the market rather than restrict freedom of speech on the social messaging app.
The Telegram co-founder indicated that complying with such high-pressure political censorship constitutes a violation of human rights.
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Original article: “Human Rights Foundation: Telegram co-founder Durov banned from attending Oslo Freedom Forum”
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