Suspicions Telegram is cooperating with Kremlin rise as app’s unpaid fines are cancelled

Russia’s Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) has written off fines imposed on Russian messaging app Telegram for various administrative violations, increasing suspicions that the company’s management is actively cooperating with the Russian authorities, Telegram channel Yozh Lab reported on Tuesday.

According to the FSSP database, attempts to recover unpaid fines levied on Telegram by agencies such as Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor were wound down at the end of March, suggesting that they had been cancelled, Yozh Lab wrote. Officially, efforts to recover the monies owed were ended due to the FSSP being unable to locate the debtor or their assets.

Fines levied against Telegram have consistently been annulled within months of the bailiffs becoming involved, Yozh Lab continued, though similar enforcement proceedings against other tech giants such as Twitch and Meta have lasted for years.

On Monday, it emerged that Telegram had deleted over 373,000 posts or channels at the request of Roskomnadzor, sparking fears that Telegram’s management was actively cooperating with the Kremlin and meeting its demands to censor certain channels.

Such blocks could pose a new threat to independent media outlets in Russia, many of which have relied on Telegram to reach their Russian audiences since the invasion of Ukraine and have built up significant followings on the platform.

Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, who is currently under criminal investigation in France for his alleged failure to prevent criminal activity on the app, reportedly flew to Dubai last month after being given permission by a judge to temporarily leave France, where he remains on bail.