Telegram has blocked a number of official chatbots of Ukraine that countered Russian aggression
Yesterday evening, without warning, the Telegram messenger blocked a number of Ukrainian chatbots that were used to collect information about the Russian military in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Among the blocked bots are the “Main intelligence bot”, “SBU bot ‘Stoprashenvarbot'”, “Ministry of Statistics bot ‘Yevorog'” and “Bot for notifications about Russian drones”.
The reasons for the blocking are unknown. Some users assume that this is related to the activity of hostile bots or calls to ban Telegram in Ukraine.
First wrote journalist Kostyantyn Ryzhenko said. As of April 29, the blocking of the bot for conducting intelligence was confirmed by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine – there they admitted that the official chatbot no longer works. The SBU (“Stoprashenvarbot” bot) and the Ministry of Statistics (“Yevorog” bot) have so far provided comments on the operation of their services. “Nikolaevsky Vanek” channel
Kostyantyn Ryzhenko suggested that the blocking occurred after Durov received calls from some Ukrainian politicians to ban Telegram on the territory of Ukraine.
“Veplease spread the word that real bots don’t work and fake bots instead. This is important, because of such things many people in the occupation end up in torture chambers“, he wrote.
In the meantime, GUR MO commented on the blocking of their bot. They noted that no one warned anyone about the blocking, besides, the managers of the messenger did it contrary to their own rules and statements.
“Today, the management of the Telegram platform unreasonably blocked a number of official bots that opposed Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, including the “Main Intelligence Bot”. This happened against the rules and public statements that the Telegram management publicly declared… We are already restoring the bot on other platforms“, the message says.
In Ukraine, restrictions on Telegram in the country have been discussed for a long time. A draft law “on regulation of disinformation and propaganda in the media and social networks” is already being prepared. In particular, it should monitor the work of Telegram, TikTok and YouTube.
