Fast, efficient and requiring minimal internet connection, the Telegram app has emerged, in just over two years, as the primary source of information for Ukrainians. The platform perfectly responds to the need for immediacy in a country at war. It is a patchwork of thousands of information channels, enabling users to keep abreast of the military situation in the country while tracking the trajectories of Russian drones and missiles during air attacks.

However, while Kyiv has been trying for several years to rid itself of Russian influence in the country, Telegram is also one of the last digital bridges between Ukraine and Russia. The two countries are fiercely contesting an information war on it.

As the situation worsens for the Ukrainian army, the total freedom available to network users is prompting some officials to sound the alarm. At the end of March, a bill to better regulate Telegram was even presented to parliament.

"What's happening on Telegram is a major source of danger for national security," said Mykyta Poturaev, an MP in the presidential Servant of the People party and signatory of the bill, on Wednesday, April 17. Poturaev, who is also head of the parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, is campaigning for new rules enabling Kyiv to hold Telegram to account, in order to control channels accused of playing into Moscow's hands. This is something the 900-million-subscriber platform has always refused to do.

Total anonymity

"The main danger is that it's a virtually unmoderated network," said Poturaev, who also believes that the app founded and run by a Russian citizen (naturalized French in 2021), Pavel Durov, is controlled by Russia's domestic intelligence service (FSB). Durov, who has lived in Dubai in a self-imposed exile since 2017, denies any links with Russia, claiming the app's complete neutrality.

Nevertheless, the platform has emerged as the favorite app among Ukrainians. The proportion of those using it as an information source rose from 21% in 2021 to 72% in November 2023, according to a survey by media support organization Usaid-Internews. So much so that all the country's officials have their own channels. However, while Telegram remains highly popular with the authorities, it is also criticized for its operating mode, which allows content creators complete anonymity. This creates an ecosystem where reliable sources and propaganda sit alongside illicit content.

Most importantly, while some official propaganda sources identify themselves as such, the platform is flooded with channels exploiting anonymity to disseminate destabilizing content. "Obviously, these channels don't say they're from the FSB," said MP Potouraev, annoyed. "This is a disinformation operation where some channels run by Russians can come across as pro-Ukrainian."

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