The government may make legislative changes regarding the operation of Telegram in Ukraine. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov, commenting on the problem of anonymity and abuse in the messenger.
The government may make legislative changes regarding the operation of Telegram in Ukraine. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov, commenting on the problem of anonymity and abuse in the messenger.
According to him, the state is currently taking some steps to make the platform safer, but this does not solve the problem systematically.
«I think we will come to legislative changes. I don’t yet see how this can be done at the level of by-laws,» Bornyakov said in an interview with Apostrophe.
The key complaint about Telegram is the level of anonymity, which, according to the official, creates an environment for abuse. «The anonymity that is there now will be somewhat limited, because it simply goes beyond the limits. This applies to drug sales, child pornography. I’m not talking about politics,» he explained.
Bornyakov also drew attention to the effect of audience migration: users are moving from platforms where there is responsibility and moderation to environments without such restrictions.
At the same time, he warned against excessive pressure, drawing a parallel with the gambling market: if legal services are severely restricted, users will simply go «into the shadows.»
He cited Australia as an example, where after legislative bans for children, part of the audience moved to the dark web. «What did the kids do? They went to the Dark Web. What’s even worse,» he noted.
Oleksandr Bornyakov himself said that he does not use Telegram and does not follow it. Moreover, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine does not use the messenger for internal work.
«We at the Ministry of Digital Affairs have not been using Telegram to communicate for quite some time,» he said. The official has a negative attitude towards the use of Telegram by state bodies, but admits that it is impossible to ban it outright.
