A number of major Russian news outlets had their Telegram channels blocked across several European Union countries on Dec. 28. Users attempting to access these channels now see a notice saying that the content has been restricted and is no longer available.
Russian pro-war milbloggers have reacted to yet more reports of Ukrainian POWs being executed by Moscow’s forces by seeking to justify the killings, while some have even called for more. In the latest case of what appears to be an increasingly common occurrence, Russian troops reportedly shot dead nine
Lawmakers and parliament officials will be barred from installing Telegram on work devices and will have to use two-factor authentication when using the app for other purposes.
The Kremlin is facing a backlash from Russian military bloggers outraged at reports of specialist troops being sent to storm Ukrainian positions in order to maintain pressure on the front lines. Facing a shortage of manpower and a pressing need to maintain the grinding advances in eastern Ukraine, Russia has
Personal information will be provided to the authorities by "valid legal requests," Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said on Sept. 23.
Tech companies' recent efforts to crack down on Russian propaganda on social media are unlikely to hamper Moscow’s campaign to undermine support for Ukraine, especially as major platforms, like X and Telegram, fail to take action. Tech giant Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, banned Russian state-run
"I have always advocated freedom of speech, but the issue of Telegram is not a matter of freedom of speech, it is a matter of national security," Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said.
A poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology also showed that 71% of Ukrainians consider the spread of Russian disinformation and propaganda on social media, including Telegram, a "fairly serious" or "very serious" threat.
The Telegram messenger app is "harmful" and a "threat to our national security," Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said in an interview published on Sept. 7.
Peskov's comments came on the same day that the Russian federal telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, deleted a published draft of its plans to deanonymize Russian Telegram channels.
In March 2023, I noticed a disturbing silence about the messaging platform Telegram’s ties to the Kremlin, despite Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. It was like a Trojan horse – right in the pockets of 70% of Ukrainians. I quickly compiled years of notes on its founder Pavel Durov,
The arrest of Telegram CEO and co-founder Pavel Durov has sent ripples of panic and concern through Russia, from online military commentators all the way up to the halls of the Kremlin itself. "They practically detained the head of communication of the Russian army," one Russian pro-war military blogger said
Telegram CEO and co-founder Pavel Durov was charged in a French court on Aug. 28 with complicity in the distribution of sexual images of children and other crimes, such as drug trafficking through the messaging app, Reuters reported.
When Pavel Durov, a Russian tech entrepreneur who founded the Telegram messenger app, was arrested in Paris on Aug. 24 on accusations of allowing terrorism to blossom on his platform, Ukraine watched it closely. He was charged by a Paris court on Aug. 28. In Ukraine, the charges against Durov
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been released from French custody after being held for four days and transferred to court on Aug. 28, news agency AFP reported, citing its undisclosed source.
Arrest warrants for Pavel and Nikolai Durov were issued on March 25 after Telegram "gave no answer" to a previous judicial request to identify the Telegram user, Politico reported, citing an obtained document.
According to the outlet, the meeting occurred a year after French intelligence services, in a joint operation with the UAE, hacked Durov's phone over concerns his app was being used by Islamic State to organize terror attacks.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov visited Russia over 60 times since leaving the country in 2014, Kremlingram, a Ukrainian group that campaigns against the use of Telegram in Ukraine, reported on Aug. 27.
Paris prosecutors have outlined potential charges against Pavel Durov, the Russian-born CEO of the messaging app Telegram.
The recent arrest of Pavel Durov, the Russian-born CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was "in no way a political decision," French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Aug. 26.
French judicial authorities on Aug. 25 extended the detention of Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram, following his arrest over alleged offenses linked to the messaging app.
Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside of Paris while traveling on his private jet.
Although Russian authorities linked the problems to a cyberattack, the news follows a string of cases of the Russian government restricting the Signal messaging app and reportedly targeting YouTube.
Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on Aug. 20, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to "The Counteroffensive," click here. Imagine getting married anywhere in the world – not in a registry office or
"Although Telegram is a very convenient form of communication, officials and official governmental organizations must be kept off Telegram, and this ban must be implemented immediately," Olha Herasymyuk, the head of the Council, said.
Telegram chatbots of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the Digital Transformation Ministry were "temporarily disabled due to a false positive," Reuters quoted a Telegram spokesperson on April 29.
Telegram chatbots of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the Digital Transformation Ministry were restored on April 29 after being previously blocked.
Chatbots of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), or the Digital Transformation Ministry, which were used, for example, to gather information on Russian troops in occupied territories, have disappeared from Telegram and are unavailable as of April 29.
To see some of the horrors Russia’s war has brought to Ukraine, one just has to click on the #RussiaIsATerroristState hashtag on social media. Given the scale of Russia’s ongoing attacks, which have left entire cities blacked out and destroyed, and thousands of people killed, the hashtag is
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