"He has kind of an old-school cyber-libertarian world view where technology is there to set you free," Maréchal said. In 2018, Russia banned Telegram although it reversed the prohibition two years later. Perpetrators of such fraud use various marketing techniques to attract subscribers on their social media channels. For example, WhatsApp restricted the number of times a user could forward something, and developed automated systems that detect and flag objectionable content. The fake Zelenskiy account reached 20,000 followers on Telegram before it was shut down, a remedial action that experts say is all too rare.
from ua