Ukraine bans use of Telegram on state-owned devices

Ukraine has banned the use of the Telegram messaging platform on official devices issued to government and military personnel, as well as defense and critical infrastructure workers.

The powerful National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said the move was aimed at “minimizing” threats from Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“Telegram is actively used by the enemy for cyberattacks, distributing phishing and malware, geolocating users and correcting missile attacks,” Rnbo reported on Friday.

Telegram is widely used by the government and military in both Ukraine and Russia.

Rnbo said in a statement that the ban was agreed at a meeting of Ukraine’s most senior information security officials, military and lawmakers.

It was reported that the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, presented credible evidence that Russian special services have access to the private correspondence of Telegram users, even to deleted messages.

“I have always supported and continue to support freedom of speech, but the Telegram issue is not a question of freedom of speech, it is a question of national security,” Budanov was quoted as saying.

Rnbo announced that the ban will not apply to officials whose use of Telegram falls within the scope of their official duties.

In a separate statement, Andriy Kowalenko, head of the Rnbo center for countering disinformation, emphasized that the ban applies only to work devices, not private smartphones.

He added that government and military officials will be able to continue to maintain and update their official Telegram pages.

Last year, a USAID-Internews study found that Telegram is the most popular social platform for news consumption in Ukraine, used by 72% of Ukrainians.

Telegram, which offers end-to-end encryption, was founded in 2013 by Russian-born Pavel Durov and his brother.

A year later, Durov left Russia, refusing to comply with government demands to close opposition communities on the platform.

Last month, Durov, who is also a French citizen, was placed under formal investigation in France as part of an organised crime probe.

His case has sparked debate about free speech, accountability and how platforms moderate content.

In July, Durov claimed that Telegram had reached 950 million monthly active users.