Why is Russia soft on Telegram?-Information Technology

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian government has restricted access to Facebook, Twitter and several other news agencies, but omitted the social network Telegram.

Russian-language news, political and commentary channels on the messaging and social networking platform Telegram have doubled or even tripled in subscriptions in recent weeks, after Russia attacked the military. Ukraine and began restricting access to Facebook and Twitter in the country. Some Telegram channels even gained 1 million followers in just a few days.

According to the analysis service Telemetrio, the number of subscribers to the Russian-language news channel of independent journalist Ilya Varlamov (varlamov_news) has increased fivefold since the start of the hostilities and has reached almost 1.3 million. Earlier, channel varlamov_news shared a video of an employee of Channel 1 on Russian television holding a sign with slogans against the war, this video reached 1.2 million views.

In addition, two major American newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, have also started using Telegram to publish their articles and news on the Russia-Ukraine war.

The fact that many Telegram channels still share content contrary to the official Russian government’s position on the war in Ukraine makes many people question why this social network has not been restricted in Russia like Facebook and Twitter.

Several obvious factors can help explain this fact. Since being launched in Russia by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, Telegram has become an important news channel for many Russians. This platform has also gradually become the place where the Russian Government gives many of its official messages.

Many Telegram channels that tend to be pro-Russian have also grown as fast or even faster than pro-Ukrainian or independent channels since hostilities began in late February. RIA Novosti – a news agency owned by the Russian government – has nearly quadrupled its following and reached the 1.6 million mark since Russia began attacking Ukraine, according to Telemetrio.

The Telegram channel of the head of the Russian Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov – a staunch pro-Kremlin politician – has also grown strongly in recent times.

Telegram has become the site of an “information war” between the parties involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, like many other social networks.

Ivan Kolpakov, Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of the independent Russian-language newspaper Meduza, said that Telegram is not seen by the Russian government as an “instrument of information warfare” against Russia and therefore should be left alone. Meduza’s website has been blocked in Russia, but the newspaper’s Telegram channel is still active here.

Some social networking experts believe that the reason Russia is softer with Telegram is to avoid public opposition. Telegram says 7-8% of its users are from Russia, or more than 40 million people. Banning Telegram will lead Russians to turn to VPNs and other tools to access this social network, just like when Iran blocked Telegram in 2017 and 2018.

Russia itself has also tried to block Telegram since April 2018, with the reason that the platform does not comply with the regulations on storing cryptographic keys under the Varovaya law. However, this decision does not significantly affect Telegram’s accessibility in Russia, partly because of Telegram’s technical nature and partly because the Russians have managed to bypass the ban. In June 2020, the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor lifted the Telegram block.

Telegram’s official stance is to support freedom of speech and oppose censorship. However, this social network still controls harmful content such as pornography, violence or extremist ideology. Telegram’s representative also said that the social network has a “no compromise” policy for bans such as those in Iran, Russia or China.