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What’s wrong with Telegram?

Telegram is a growing digital platform that is being used in the region and around the world. Yet, out of all major social media companies, it remains the least transparent in its content moderation and curation practices. The platform makes vocal commitments to protecting user privacy but practice shows otherwise.

Russia and Ukraine share few things in common when it comes to their respective social media environments. Following the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia banned the use of Meta’s platforms – Instagram and Facebook – in addition to the wholesale blocking of various domestic and foreign media outlets. Ukraine, for its part, blocked the Russian social network Vkontakte long before the invasion.

September 17, 2024 - Maksym Popovych - AnalysisIssue 5 2024Magazine

Telegram CEO and Founder Pavel Durov in the background. Durov was arrested at the airport in Paris in August 2024 on charges related to Telegram’s lack of moderation. Ukrainian officials go even further, claiming that Durov cooperates directly with the Russian government. Photo: Poetra.RH / Shutterstock

The use of the Ukrainian language in content creation has skyrocketed in the past two years. Both the surge of new content makers and the switch from previously Russian-speaking influencers to Ukrainian in their blogs have arguably had the most significant effect on demarcating the Ukrainian social media space from that of Russia.

Yet, there is one platform that not only remains immensely popular in both states at war but also continues to grow in importance as a primary source of information: Telegram. According to a 2023 poll, a whopping 71.3 per cent of Ukrainians obtained their news from Telegram, the top figure among social media. There are at least 17 Ukrainian Telegram channels with over one million subscribers­ – and five of them have over two million subscribers – a number, which is growing exponentially year-to-year.

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