"Russians are really disconnected from the reality of what happening to their country," Andrey said. "So Telegram has become essential for understanding what's going on to the Russian-speaking world." As a result, the pandemic saw many newcomers to Telegram, including prominent anti-vaccine activists who used the app's hands-off approach to share false information on shots, a study from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue shows. Despite Telegram's origins, its approach to users' security has privacy advocates worried. "Your messages about the movement of the enemy through the official chatbot … bring new trophies every day," the government agency tweeted. Although some channels have been removed, the curation process is considered opaque and insufficient by analysts.
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