The Telegram network is at a crossroads. In Russia, it is restricted, while elsewhere it is criticized for propaganda and payment fraud.
After Russian authorities began restricting calls through the Telegram app last year, they imposed a fine on it in February. The country aims to reduce dependence on foreign platforms in favor of its own. From our perspective, this might be considered a paradoxical move. According to data analyst Josef Šlerka, the Czech version of Telegram serves primarily as a megaphone for Russian propaganda.
Russia has once again targeted Telegram. At the same time, it imposed a fine on the WhatsApp application operated by the American company Meta.
"As part of cracking down on criminals, we are taking measures to partially restrict calls on these foreign communicators. No further restrictions have been imposed on their operation,"
quoted the Russian government agency for media and internet control Roskomnadzor, as reported by ČTK.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has been increasing pressure on media and foreign internet services. It is engaged in disputes with a number of foreign technology companies regarding content, censorship, or local representation.
All of this is happening at a time when the Russian government has launched a state-supported application called MAX, which critics claim could be used to monitor users.
Deterrence and Blocking
In February, Telegram was fined by the courts with two penalties totaling almost 11 million rubles. According to the first verdict, Telegram must pay 3.8 million rubles, which is nearly one million crowns, for refusing to remove and helping to spread information deemed false by the court regarding the Russian army, illegal sales of alcohol and tobacco products, and unauthorized handling of personal data. The second verdict imposed a fine of seven million rubles on the platform, which is just under 2 million crowns, for refusing to remove content that the court labeled as calls for extremist activity.
The extremist Russian authorities label the "international LGBT movement" as extremist, and Moscow also calls criticism of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine extremist or terrorist.
Additionally, Telegram is facing several legal disputes where it faces further fines for insufficiently removing illegal content. The total fines could amount to up to 64 million rubles, approximately 17 million Czech crowns.
Furthermore, the local media and internet regulatory authority, Roskomnadzor, announced in February the restriction of access to the application.
Moscow attempted to block Telegram back in 2018, but without success. Another intervention occurred last year in August, when it started restricting some calls on the Telegram and WhatsApp platforms, stating that they refuse to share information with law enforcement authorities in cases of fraud and terrorism.
Source of Payment Fraud and Russian Propaganda
The described issues are not the only problems Telegram faces. It is also becoming the fastest-growing source of APP-type payment fraud. According to a new report from Revolut, globally, the number of frauds originating from this platform increased by 233 percent year-over-year. The number of cases originating from this platform now accounts for 21 percent of all reported frauds.
In the Czech Republic, about a tenth of us use Telegram, according to estimates. The platform is particularly popular because it is fast and allows the creation of large groups that communicate together. It can involve up to 200,000 people. Encrypted "secret chats" are used for both private communication and following information channels. And this is precisely an opportunity for the spread of Russian propaganda, which, among other things, defends the occupation of Ukraine.
"The hardest core of pro-Russian propaganda and extremism has shifted to Telegram. Not every user is an extremist, but in these groups and channels, we mainly encounter them,”
said some time ago to the server Aktualne.cz Josef Šlerka. He was based on an analysis by the project Fireworks of Lies, which focused on Telegram channels and groups from Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, and other countries.
The document claims that in each country, some of the most popular channels and groups on Telegram are part of a broader disinformation system. Whether by being associated with the right-wing scene, pro-Kremlin groups, or with anti-vaccine activists.
"Telegram is arguably the largest functional platform for disinformation in Central and Eastern Europe today and remains outside the attention of the broader public or law enforcement,"
explains a study as published by the server Investigace.cz.
Legal Issues
Despite this, Telegram's owner Pavel Durov has quite a bit of experience with the law. He was born in 1984 in the former Soviet Union. However, he lived in Italy with his parents from a young age. He now holds citizenship in several countries and resides outside of Russia.
During his business operations, he faced a number of allegations portraying him as the head of a company that refuses to provide law enforcement with relevant user data. Investigators noted that if the platform cooperated, authorities could deploy legal wiretaps and more easily convict criminals who use it.
Sources: author's article, Mediaguru.cz, Investigace.cz, Aktualne.cz
