The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine restricts the use of Telegram by parliament officials

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has banned its officials from using the Telegram messaging application on official devices, MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said in a Facebook post on October 7.

Lawmakers and parliamentary officials will not be able to install Telegram on work devices, and will have to use two-factor authentication and other security measures when using the app for other purposes.

The solution was recommended by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council amid concerns that the messaging app, founded by Russian businessman Pavel Durov, posed a threat to national security.

“I think such security measures are quite logical. Unfortunately, there have already been examples of third parties obtaining data about state employees via Telegram,” Yurchyshyn said.

The decision was made after Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk warned against fake messages sent from his Telegram account, which he has not used for over three years.

Lawmakers will be able to continue to use Telegram for personal communication on their personal devices.

Telegram’s popularity in Ukraine has skyrocketed since the invasion began in 2022, especially thanks to anonymous channels that mass-distribute content to subscribers while maintaining complete anonymity of the publisher.

Telegram CEO and co-founder Durov was briefly detained in France and later charged with “complicity in the management of an online platform to facilitate illegal transactions by an organized group” and other crimes.

Russian-born Durov claimed to be a pariah and was effectively expelled from Russia, but on August 27 it was reported that he had visited Russia more than 60 times since leaving the country.