Ukraine has banned the usage of the Telegram messaging platform on official gadgets issued to authorities and army personnel, in addition to protection sector and demanding infrastructure staff.
The nation’s highly effective Nationwide Safety and Protection Council (Rnbo) stated this was accomplished to “decrease” the menace posed by Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Enemies actively use Telegram to hold out cyber assaults, distribute phishing and malware, person geolocation and missile strike correction,” Rnbo stated on Friday.
Telegram is broadly utilized by the governments and militaries of Ukraine and Russia.
Ukraine’s high data safety officers, the army and lawmakers agreed to the ban at a gathering, Rnbo stated in a press release.
Kyrylo Budanov, the top of army intelligence, allegedly offered credible proof that Russian particular forces have the flexibility to entry Telegram customers’ private correspondence and even their deleted messages.
“I’ve at all times supported and can proceed to help freedom of speech, however the issue with Telegram just isn’t an issue of free speech, however an issue of nationwide safety,” Budanov stated.
Rnbo stated officers who use Telegram as a part of their job duties can be exempt from the ban.
As well as, Andriy Kovalenko, director of the Rnbo Anti-Pretend Info Middle, emphasised that the ban solely applies to official gadgets and doesn’t apply to private smartphones.
He added that authorities officers and army personnel will have the ability to proceed to take care of and replace their official Telegram pages.
Final yr, a USAID-Internews survey discovered that Telegram was the highest social platform for information consumption in Ukraine, with 72% of Ukrainians utilizing it.
Telegram – which offers end-to-end encryption – co-founded by Russian-born Pavel Durov and his brother in 2013.
Durov left Russia a yr later after refusing to adjust to authorities calls for to close down the platform’s opposition group.
Durov, additionally a French nationwide, was formally investigated in France final month as a part of an investigation into organized crime.
His case has sparked debate about free speech, accountability and the way platforms reasonable content material.
In July, Durov claimed Telegram had 950 million month-to-month lively customers.
