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New Delhi. Ukraine announced on Friday that it has banned the use of the Telegram messaging app for government officials, military personnel and important employees. According to Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, the move has been taken because they believe Russia can monitor messages sent and users’ activities through this platform.
The ban was announced after Kirilo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, proved to the council that Russian special services could hack into Telegram. The council statement said that the ban would only apply to official devices, while the general public would not be affected by the ban. The Telegram app is used heavily in both Ukraine and Russia. It has become an important information source since the Russian invasion in February 2022. However, Ukrainian security officials have repeatedly raised concerns about its use during the war.
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National security issue
“I always support freedom of thought, but the issue of Telegram is not about freedom, but about national security,” Budanov said in a statement. According to the Telemetrio database, there are about 33,000 active Telegram channels in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is on the Security Council, and other military commanders regularly share war updates and important decisions on Telegram channels. According to Ukrainian media, about 75% of Ukrainians use the app and 72% consider it a major source of information.
The founders are Russian
Telegram was founded in Dubai and was created by Russian-born Pavel Durov. He left Russia in 2014 when he was asked to close opposition communities on his social media platform VKontakte. Now Durov has sold this platform. Durov was arrested in August upon landing in France. He is accused of not taking any steps to stop Telegram child pornography and drugs business.
Tag: tech news
first published : September 20, 2024, 9:06 pm IST
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