Telegram has entered into an advertising agreement with the mobile operator MTS

The Telegram messenger has entered into an agreement on targeted advertising with the Russian mobile operator MTS. this MTS reported on its website.

As Forbes notes , previously targeted advertising in Telegram could only be configured based on geographic data, interests and user subscriptions - that is, based on information collected by the messenger itself. Now advertising can be targeted by phone number using data collected by MTS.

“The advertiser, if he has a phone number and consent to sending advertising, will be able to set up targeting based on interests, including based on data from his internal systems (for example, inform his customers in Telegram about a discount on their favorite products, an abandoned cart, etc.),” - MTS explained.

Forbes writes that at the first stage this will work only for MTS subscriber numbers, and in the future the functions will extend to subscribers of other Russian operators.

Integration of systems will be carried out through one of Telegram’s partners, information about which is not disclosed.

It will also be possible to set up targeted advertising in the messenger through the MTS Marketer service, and the operator will be able to use Telegram branding to advertise its service.

Earlier, Telegram updated its privacy policy - the development team opened additional advertising opportunities in some countries, including Russia. According to the new rules, Telegram will be able to target using data collected by advertisers on other platforms.

“An advertiser can provide us with an anonymized list of encrypted identifiers based on phone numbers (but not the phone numbers themselves) to determine who will be served specific ads across major channels. This does not allow any third parties, including advertisers, to know your phone number or Telegram ID,” the privacy policy stated.

In 2016, Russia adopted the Yarovaya Law, according to which all operators from July 1, 2018 were required to install equipment systems for operational investigative activities (SORM) on their networks. Operators are required to store telephone conversations, text messages, images, videos and other electronic communications of users. Negotiations and messages must be viewed for six months, Internet traffic - 30 days. The FSB can obtain SORM data by court decision.