Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo is a Milan-based correspondent for Defense News.
The Ukraine war has transformed how war-related information and news are consumed and shared. But the fall of one messaging platform could have significant security repercussions on data accessibility for one of its primary user countries: Russia.
Since the launch of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, the cloud-based instant-messaging app Telegram has rapidly risen as one of the main communication channels for the Russian Army, as well as the most widely used social-media network by the Ukrainian population.
But on Aug. 24, its French-Russian co-founder and chief executive officer Pavel Durov got on a flight from Azerbaijan to Paris, where he was arrested. This has prompted panic among many Russian users, who fear the tech entrepreneur – who is being investigated for the misuse of his platform for several criminal activities – could hand over encryption keys to French authorities, which would allow them to access key data users believed were protected.
Founded more than a decade ago, Telegram offers a platform for members to exchange messages, share files, hold private or group voice and video calls and organize livestreams with very minimal content restrictions. It has nearly one billion active users, according to Mr. Durov, and is growing quickly: In March, 2022, the app’s usage rate jumped by 63 per cent in Russia, becoming the most popular instant-messaging network in the country, according to the Russian mobile operator Megafon. Similarly, a survey last year by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the non-profit group Internews found that 72 per cent of Ukrainians rely on Telegram as their primary social network for news consumption.
Some of the features that have attracted high-profile figures such as Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron to join include “secret chats,” which Telegram says are end-to-end encrypted despite recent scrutiny, and the ability to create one-way broadcasting feeds, known as channels, with an unlimited number of subscribers. In theory, the content sent in secret chats can only be accessed by the true sender and recipients. The content of the chats can be set to self-destruct or disappear after it has been read by all parties, and such messages cannot be forwarded or captured in a screenshot. But the app’s encryption keys could be used to decode that protected data.
The anonymous chatbot function on the app, where unidentifiable users are able to request or send information, has also been useful for both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries as well as defence analysts in collecting details and footage about enemy activity. Indeed, a vast number of Russian troops reportedly rely on Telegram to co-ordinate battlefield actions and communications, store videos or files with sensitive information related to their position or movements.
In Russia, the prevalence of Telegram has stemmed in part from the government’s highly restrictive measures against other social media platforms such as Instagram, Meta and YouTube. And Moscow has proven vulnerable to this method of communication. It has failed to control it, unlike other national networks – Moscow’s efforts to ban Telegram in 2018 did not succeed – and the Kremlin claims it has not managed to gain access to the app’s encryption keys.
Despite this, the relationship and dynamics that exist between the Russian-founded network and the Kremlin remain highly unclear and intricate. In an interview with the state-owned Russian news agency TASS, the country’s Foreign Intelligence Service director Sergy Naryshkin said he does not expect Mr. Durov “will allow the West to get its hands on the platform’s sensitive information.”
If Paris was to strike a deal for the release of Mr. Durov in exchange for information, it could gain access to valuable insights into Russian war efforts or plans, to share with other NATO allies. If the CEO was to negotiate such a deal with France, a member of NATO, another significant risk for Russia could be a leak of the many hacking groups that have exploited the platform to commit data breaches and identity theft, or to spread propaganda. These groups have been reported to have ties to the Kremlin.
In contrast, if the Kremlin was somehow able to work out an agreement with him, whether this be for a transfer of control of Telegram or change in its policies to protect stored information, it might have important consequences for Ukrainians and the freedom of communication.
The Durov investigation could result in changes to Telegram policies that have the potential to directly affect data privacy, who controls the app and how war-related content spreads. The fate of Telegram now largely rests in the hands of the French courts and government – a country that happens to be on Russia’s red list of unfriendly nations.