With its 800M+ users, Telegram is one of the world’s largest messengers and news-reading apps. It is also the most opaque of the big tech companies.
Telegram positions itself as a free speech heaven and a privacy focused messaging app. However, both statements are misleading.
Telegram is proven to be insecure for communication. Its lack of moderation had been used by Russia, ISIS, Hamas, and other terrorist groups to spread their messages to the world. Telegram is founded and being built by a team of Russian engineers and entrepreneurs, now mostly based in Dubai. It is still one of the most used apps in Ukraine, despite the war with Russia.
There’s plenty of indirect evidence pointing at Telegram’s close ties to the Kremlin – from personal connections, to history of relations, sources of funding, statements by government officials, and general lack of transparency.
The fact that Telegram itself claims it has “No connection to Russia” only makes this worse.
Our group investigates these connections based on open data and provides the findings to public and policymakers.
Essential reading:
The Kremlin Has Entered the Chat— Wired, by Darren Loucaides, Feb 2nd, 2023 General background on Telegram’s product and business, cases of Russian dissident’s information being accessed by Russian special services in the wake of Russian-Ukrainian war. Telegram responded to this.
No employees, no entities? Is, indeed, Telegram in no way connected to Russia? (in Ukrainian) — Vector, by Dmytro Koshelnyk, September 22nd, 2023 Proves Telegram lied when stated they have “No connection to Russia” in May 2023. Ties between Russians in Telegram team and government officials described. Russian contractors living in Moscow and working for Telegram in 2023 highlighted.
How Telegram Became the Anti-Facebook — Wired, by Darren Loucaides, February 8th 2022 Telegram’s role in January 6th riots in Washington D.C. Elies Campo, an ex-employee of Telegram interviewed about the company and its culture. Telegram denies ever contracting Elies, states he was only involved as a volunteer.
