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Ukraine has banned the use of the Telegram messaging platform on official devices issued to government and military personnel, as well as defence sector and critical infrastructure employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The country’s powerful National Security and Defence Council (Rnbo) said this was done to “minimise” threats posed by Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Telegram is actively used by the enemy for cyber-attacks, the distribution of phishing and malicious software, user geolocation and missile strike correction,” the Rnbo said on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Telegram is widely used by the government and the military in both Ukraine and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement, the Rnbo said the ban was agreed at a meeting of Ukraine’s top information security officials, the military as well as lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov had presented credible evidence of Russian special services’ ability to access personal correspondence of Telegram users, even their deleted messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I have always supported and continue to support freedom of speech, but the issue of Telegram is not a matter of freedom of speech, it is a matter of national security,” Budanov was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rnbo said that those officials for whom the use of Telegram was part of their work duties would be exempt from the ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separately, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Rnbo’s centre on countering disinformation, stressed the ban only applied to official devices – not personal smartphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that government officials and military personnel would be able to continue to maintain and update their official Telegram pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, a USAID-Internews survey found that Telegram was the top social platform in Ukraine for news consumption, with 72% of Ukrainians using it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n