Telegram, the app of choice for following Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s War in Ukraine

On Monday, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, took to Telegram to share an 11-minute voice message on his revolt against the Russian government with his 1.3M followers. Communication through Telegram, an end-to-end encrypted messaging channel, comes as no surprise in the Russian context, as the app has become central in following the war in Ukraine. This is just one of many examples of Telegram being the app of choice for communication for many, although the free moderation of content can sometimes be questionable.

ISD Senior Research Manager, Jared Holt, spoke to The Atlantic about how Telegram’s prioritisation of privacy and anti-censorship policies to protect the app from Russian surveillance, has also turned it into the platform of choice for violent extremist groups, conspiracy theorists, and drug dealers among others.

“It’s a Wild West kind of platform where anything can kind of happen, so I think there’s a good case to be made that it’s a perfect place for chaos,” he explained.

The full article is available on The Atlantic.