The Rada proposes to ban state bodies from having Telegram accounts and names a condition
Representatives of state and local authorities in Ukraine may be banned from having Telegram accounts. Such a taboo is proposed to be applied if this multi-platform messenger is recognized as an opaque network. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing a statement by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, on the air of the national telethon "United News".
The MP noted that it is currently unknown where the assets of Telegram are located, so the messenger should show its ownership system at the request of the National Council on Radio and Television.
"If it is transparent and there are no FSB tails and Chinese special services, if it does not show its ownership system, it will receive the status of a system with an opaque ownership system," he said.
The consequence will be that the state will not be able to place its assets there, Yurchyshyn added.
"That is, there can be no accounts of state bodies, representatives of self-government bodies or national representatives of the authorities there," the MP said.
He explained that citizens will have a conscious choice about their willingness to use this messenger after the state declares that Telegram is "hiding something."
"Therefore, nothing will change for social media users even if Telegram is recognized as an opaque network after the law is passed. Except for the fact that there will be no GUR account there," Yurchyshyn said.
The chairman of the Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech also noted that the draft law on the regulation of the activities of information sharing platforms through which mass information is disseminated(No. 11115) does not provide for blocking.
Questions about Telegram in Ukraine
It is worth noting that discussions about restricting the activities of Telegram channels have been going on for a long time. Former Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko was one of the first to speak about it.
Recently, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov in an interview with RBC-Ukraine spoke about the danger posed by anonymous Telegram channels. According to him, Ukraine has recently seen an increase in the popularity of anonymous publics.
Former National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said that Telegram channels in Ukraine should be transparent in their activities. The main requirement for publics is to eliminate anonymity.
It should be added that according to the head of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, Telegram is definitely a problem in terms of national security, but it can be used to Ukraine's advantage.
Author: Volodymyr Kostyrin
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