Author: Polina Poliakova
BA student of the National University of Ostroh Academy (Ukraine)
Recently, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that Telegram is a threat to the national security of Ukraine [6]. In turn, Andriy Yusov compared the messenger to the «darknet» [10]. This caused a wave of curiosity among its consumers and caused a number of discussions on so cial networks. In this thesis, I would like to analyze why Telegram can be dangerous for Ukrainians and why it is so difficult for us to stop using the messenger.
Telegram is a Russian cross-platform messenger, according to the Ukrainian Wikipedia [8]. It is interesting that according to the Russian Wikipedia Telegram is not mentioned as russian social network [8].
Yehor Aushev, CEO of Cyber Unit Technologies and an expert in cyber security, says that although Telegram is a free platform, more than a billion dollars have been invested in its development from banks financed precisely from the Russian Federal Reserve. «The question arises, why do they invest there if they don’t make money from it? It turns out that this is a strategically important platform», says Aushev [7].
The founder of Telegram is Pavlo Durov, a Russian-French businessman and programmer. He was born and started his business in Russia, but eventually moved to France. Recently, he was arrested by the French special services at the Paris airport due to the disruption of his social network. This was reported by the French TV channels LCI and TF1.
After the arrest of the owner, Telegram actively began to cooperate with the French services, as reported by the publication Libertation. Previously, the messenger ignored any requests from government authorities, so now in France it was called «Opening the door» [3]. From this, we can assume that Durov himself could forbid employees to cooperate with the authorities of any country. However, as early as 2021, the Russian pseudo-president declared that there was an “agreement” with Telegram. This leads to the idea of selling the information of the messenger users to the Russian special services, which also applies to Ukrainians.
In the conditions of war, the sale of information about Ukrainian users is a threat. Russian special services can use it for their own purposes. In particular, we can follow this already, using the example of a large number of account hacks in Telegram itself. Fraudsters or hackers use various methods to gain access to a user’s personal information. One of them is a mailing with a request to vote for a girl in a dance contest, after which a request to confirm login to the Telegram account appears. After receiving confirmation, fraudsters gain access to all personal correspondence and contact details and can use them for their own purposes [11].
Even more dangerous is the spread of disinformation and fakes in the messenger. Nowadays, this is quite a popular problem. Unfortunately, many Ukrainians don’t check the information they consume on the Internet and this causes some chaos. Telegram is a platform where there are many ways to provide information: general chats, Telegram channels with news, various groups, etc. Their number is very large, so it is difficult to control them. But such information spreads very quickly.
Many of these channels are anonymous, which gives more opportunities to carry out illegal activities using Telegram. On this platform, in addition to normal communication, there is the following: drug and weapons trade, distribution of various types of pornography, materials about racism, violence, terrorism, and others. The New York Times writes about it [5]. Telegram is an ideal platform for organizing such crimes, as it provides many opportunities and freedom of use.
The owner of the company, Pavlo Durov, said: «Were it entirely up to us, we would always give our users what they ask for: access to uncensored information and opinions so that they can make their own decisions».
In this way, Durov allegedly shows respect for the decision and choice of users. He ignores all requests from the state bodies, government agencies and special services regarding his crimes on his platform. This is clearly perceived as support for such actions.
So, in this case, permissiveness gives rise to arbitrariness.
Of course, each of the listed problems applies to each country. However, in today’s conditions, the greatest threat to Ukraine is russia. Telegram’s cooperation with russian special services was not confirmed by the messenger’s management. However, researchers think otherwise. In February, Forbes cited a number of arguments confirming close ties with the Russian Federation. From the servers used by the platform to Putin’s public statements, all this is evidence that Telegram is closely cooperating with the aggressor state [1].
Pavlo Durov stated that Telegram is a messenger independent of any government. However, the main servers used by the platform are located in Russia, Russian companies are involved in the transmission of users’ network traffic, the president of the Russian Federation declares good cooperation with Telegram, and groups discussing resistance that is not beneficial for Russia are blocked by the program’s administration. All this points to the danger for users all over the world, as their private information can be in the hands of the Russian special services at any moment.
According to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology polls, the first place among messengers in Ukraine is Viber, the second is Facebook Messenger, and the third is Telegram [4]. Even though Viber also has dubious roots, there is no such permissiveness as in Telegram. That is why Telegram poses a much greater threat.
To solve this problem, Ukrainian services tried to contact the platform since it does not have a representative office in Ukraine. Appeals to Remy Vaughn, a representative of Telegram, turned out to be fruitless, as the platform ignored any requests from the Ukrainian authorities. The very existence of the so-called Remy Vaughan is not proven.
Therefore, Ukrainian lawmakers proposed to solve this problem through legislation. In March, the Ukrainian parliament registered the «Draft of the Law on Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Regulation of Activities of Information Sharing Platforms Through which Mass Information is Disseminated», which should regulate the activities of all online platforms on the territory of Ukraine. It is currently at a hearing in the Ukrainian parliament. However, experts already see some potential problems with this.
Previously, no state had the experience of dealing with such problems at the legislative level. Only recently, the countries of the European Union adopted several acts similar in content. However, they are currently in the «testing mode», so Ukraine will not be able to immediately create an effective law to regulate the activities of the platforms. «The main regulatory act in the EU is the Digital Services Act. And it sets out a series of due diligence obligations that apply to platforms. Mostly they relate to transparency…», – says Maksym Dvorovy, head of the «Digital Rights» department of the «Digital Security Laboratory» public organization [2]. Another obstacle here is that Ukraine is not yet a member of the EU. This prevents joining the European legal system.
In any case, it takes time.
«If the network does not come into contact with the regulator, then the only possible way to fight against malicious content is to block the network as a whole. Telegram belongs to those social networks that are extremely reluctant to cooperate with regulators», says Nikita Poturaev, head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy [2]. «Telegram is unpopular in Europe… This network has become hyper-popular in our country precisely since the full-scale invasion of russia», says Ihor Rozkladai, the chief media law expert of the Center for Democracy and Rule of Law.
«But the problem is that Telegram is not under the jurisdiction of the EU, so influencing it is not easy», says Ihor Rozkladai. — And especially in Ukraine. Any regulation aims to establish the rules of the game and the ability of the state to enforce these rules of the game. Telegram, by all accounts, is managed from Russia. Accordingly, Ukraine has no means of control, there are no representatives of this network here. What can be done? Block the platform entirely through communication tools and block the app in the Apple and Google stores. But is society ready for this?» [2]. Precisely because of the unpreparedness of society, no one is doing this yet. First of all, we will look for ways to establish communication with the platform. Only after a certain number of unsuccessful attempts, it will be possible to act with such a radical method.
In fact, a big problem in Ukraine, which concerns not only Telegram, is the information hygiene of Ukrainians. Many citizens do not check information, take any news seriously and do not know how to use critical thinking to distinguish between truth and lies. I believe that this is the key thing that Ukrainians need to be taught now. The experience of the hybrid war in Ukraine showed us how easy it is to manipulate society with the help of informational factors. That is why society should always be prepared for such manipulations. This will ensure the absence of chaos, which will facilitate work in critical situations for the state and its citizens.
So, Telegram is a platform that enables the development of a large number of threats to Ukraine. The biggest of them in modern times is the spread of disinformation in Ukrainian society. This becomes a big obstacle to continuing the fight against such a powerful enemy as Russia. Ukrainians should learn information hygiene in order not to become a victim of an information war.
References:
- Cyber Division, ICWR Cyber Warfare Research Institute. Telegram risks. Is it safe to use the messenger and is it connected to the FSB and GRU of the Russian Federation? Specialists of the Cyber Division and the ICWR Cyber Warfare Research Institute tell the story. Forbes. URL: https://forbes.ua/innovations/riziki-telegram-chi-bezpechno-koristuvatisya-mesendzherom-ta-chi-povyazaniy-vin-z-fsb-ta-gru-rf-rozpovidayut-fakhivtsi-cyber-division-ta-institutu-doslidzhennya-kiberviyni-icwr-19022024-19311.
- Dankova Natalia. Telegram in Ukraine: cannot be regulated, not ready to block. ms.detector.media. URL: https://detector.media/rinok/article/219977/2023-11-30-telegram-v-ukraini-regulyuvaty-ne-mozhna-zablokuvaty-ne-gotovi/.
- Judicial cooperation: since the arrest of Pavel Durov, the sudden about-face of Telegram in France. Liberation. URL: https://www.liberation.fr/societe/police-justice/cooperation-judiciaire-depuis-linterpellation-de-pavel-dourov-la-soudaine-volte-face-de-telegram-en-france-20240910_36YZVT65HBADBII5HWNGG554FE/#mailmunch-pop-1146266.
- Oleksandr Bevzyuk-Voloshchyn. What are the most popular mobile apps? Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. URL: https://kiis.com.ua/?lang=ukr&cat=reports&id=1027.
- Paul Mozur, Adam Satariano, Aaron Krolik, Steven Lee Myers. How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists. The New York Times. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/07/technology/telegram-crime-terrorism.html.
- Roman Petrenko. Budanov: Telegram is a threat to national security. Ukrainska Pravda. URL: https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2024/09/7/7473898/.
- Semenyuta Iryna, Gala Sklyarevska. Telegram addiction: how to legally and technically tame the Russian messenger. ms.detector.media. URL: https://ms.detector.media/trendi/post/34676/2024-04-16-telegram-zalezhnist-yak-yurydychno-y-tekhnichno-pryborkaty-rosiyskyy-mesendzher/.
- Telegram – Wikipedia. Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia. URL: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram.
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- Valentyna Troyan. Intelligence representative: Telegram is often used as a legalized darknet. Institute of Mass Information. URL: https://imi.org.ua/news/yusov-telegram-chasto-vykorystovuyetsya-yak-legalizovanyj-darknet-i61448.
- Yuliia Abramova. A new fraudulent scheme: users massively report the hacking of Telegram accounts. tsn.ua. URL: https://tsn.ua/ukrayina/nova-shahrayska-shema-koristuvachi-masovo-povidomlyayut-pro-zlam-akauntiv-v-telegram-2587962.html.
