Due to a French court's rejection of Pavel Durov's request to travel to Norway, the co-founder of Telegram will be absent from the Oslo Freedom Forum held in Oslo, Norway.
According to a statement from the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), although Durov cannot be present, he will still deliver a keynote speech via livestream. HRF is a non-profit organization dedicated to universal human rights and personal freedoms and is the organizer of the event.
HRF founder and CEO Thor Halvorssen stated, "It is truly regrettable that the French court has prevented Mr. Durov from participating in such an important event."
There is widespread concern over Durov's legal disputes in France, which have far-reaching implications for personal freedoms that leaders in the crypto industry care about.
Durov claims that French intelligence agencies requested him to censor conservative voices.
According to Pavel Durov's allegations, French intelligence officials had asked him to censor conservative political content related to the Romanian presidential elections on the Telegram platform.
Durov stated that he firmly rejected the request. In a telegram post on May 18, he wrote, "You cannot 'defend democracy' by undermining it, nor can you 'oppose election interference' by interfering in elections."
"This spring, in the battle hall of the Crillon Hotel, the head of French intelligence, Nicolas Lerner, asked me to ban conservative voices from Romania ahead of the elections. I refused. We do not stop protesters from Russia, Belarus, or Iran, and we will not do so in Europe."
Durov has repeatedly stated that Telegram will not censor political content on the platform, and even if it exits the market, it will not restrict free speech. He pointed out that such political censorship is a violation of human rights.
