Telegram has become one of the main problems for Europe

Pro-Kremlin accounts have flooded the Telegram messenger to spread disinformation, and Russian intelligence agencies are actively recruiting messenger users for minor sabotage in Europe. Information attacks inside Telegram have turned it into one of the main problems for European authorities, Bloomberg writes .

The European Union conducted its own investigation, after which it identified the five most popular topics that pro-Russian propaganda in Telegram is aimed at. First of all, these are the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Fakes about migration, climate change and the elections to the European Parliament are also spread. Experts admit that moderation in Telegram is quite weak, which is why conspiracy theories, rumors and fakes on current topics are so easily spread in the messenger.

Moreover, Bloomberg claims that Russia recruits saboteurs using Pavel Durov's messenger. Thus, in Estonia, former prisoners were sought through Telegram, who were offered money to destroy national monuments or damage the cars of local ministers.

The problem of spreading fakes via Telegram exists in many European countries, admitted Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. According to her, requests to remove fake materials often remain unanswered. "Disinformation is spread openly and completely uncontrollably on Telegram," complained the head of the Estonian government.

Large pro-Russian channels on Telegram have chosen a special tactic for spreading fakes — Doppelgänger, or “evil double.” For example, they post photoshopped screenshots from the websites of popular European publications and news agencies. For example, one of the pro-Russian channels replicated an “article” from the British publication Daily Telegraph, which claimed that pro-Ukrainian forces were behind the assassination attempt on Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. Materials that are presented as content from Euronews and Al Jazeera are also distributed in the same way.

"Almost a third of the content of Slovak Telegram accounts originates from or is directly taken from various Russian sources. Telegram plays a key role in disseminating Russian narratives," admits Daniel Milo, former director of the Center for Countering Hybrid Threats at the Slovak Ministry of the Interior.

Telegram is not covered by the European legislation against harmful content, the so-called Digital Services Act. The law only applies to platforms with more than 45 million active users directly in Europe. Pavel Durov's messenger lacks at least 4 million users to be considered a major platform in Europe.

Special controls apply, for example, to Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. If they fail to meet their obligations to protect users, they risk receiving a fine of up to 6% of their annual turnover.

However, Telegram falls under Belgian law. The national authorities of the kingdom have the right to take measures against the messenger's content, but in practice this is not enough. In most cases, only obviously illegal content is removed, such as calls for violence. Unlike other major social networks, such as Twitter or Instagram, the Telegram messenger is not blocked in Russia and continues to operate as before. Bloomberg claims that Telegram has become a key weapon for pro-Kremlin accounts. At the same time, Telegram's administration blocked chatbots for 10 hours, in which Ukrainian special services and the military collected the information they needed. In May, unofficial information appeared that Telegram mightlaunch a Fact Check function, which will check information in posts.

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