Post #3462

👎 A few days ago, several Telegram channels published a fake news story about Telegram supposedly leaving Russia. Originally started as a joke by a satirical outlet, the news quickly spread across serious channels—without any indication that it was satire. We even had to add disclaimers under such posts in Telegram channels to debunk the claims.🤦‍♂️ 📰 Earlier, a number of Russian and Ukrainian media outlets released false reports claiming that OSINT Telegram channels were being blocked for political reasons. In reality, a few channels were temporarily disabled by automated scripts for sharing personal data—but the media reports continued to appear days after the incident, often without mentioning that the channels had already been restored. 🤔 🤦‍♂️ Finally, last month the Russian-speaking internet buzzed over a technically illiterate investigation about Telegram's IP addresses allegedly posing a threat to our users. Although this publication was repeatedly debunked by independent experts (for example, [here]), the corrections—as in many such cases—received far less attention than the original false reports. 🤦‍♂️ 😼 Telegram has been defending people's right to privacy and free access to information for over 12 years, which is why we often become targets of media pressure from all sides. It’s entirely possible that we’re no longer dealing with innocent journalistic errors, but with a deliberate campaign to discredit Telegram. Stay alert! 👀 @durov_russia