Ukraine Bans Telegram On State-Issued Devices

Ukraine has banned government officials and military personnel from using the Telegram app on state-issued devices. The ban is also applicable to defence sector and critical infrastructure employees. The ban, announced by Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council, is due to concerns about Russian surveillance.

The Telegram app is widely used in both Ukraine and Russia and has become a key source of information since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council reportedly said that the messaging app is "actively used by the enemy for cyber-attacks, the distribution of phishing and malicious software, user geolocation, and missile strike correction." The council also said that the country's military intelligence chief had presented evidence of Russian special services' ability to snoop on the platform. Authorities also said that the restrictions apply only to official devices, not personal phones.

Meanwhile, Telegram responded to Ukraine's decision and said that the platform never disclosed anyone's data or the contents of any message. "Deleted messages are deleted forever and are technically impossible to recover," Telegram added in the statement. Reuters, citing the Telemetrio database, reported that about 33,000 Telegram channels are active in Ukraine.