Telegram.Photo: depositphotos.
The Poltava Regional Council is planning to discuss the issue of banning Telegram on its territory. On Tuesday, 8 October, nv.ua reported that they were preparing to vote on the issue.
Reasons for the ban
The deputy commission of the regional council has already discussed the situation, in particular, it noted that citizens are forced to register via Telegram to access the State Agrarian Register. This has raised concerns, as the deputies believe that the messenger’s servers are located in St Petersburg, which could lead to the risk of data being transferred to the Russian Federation. Taking into account the recommendations of the Ukrainian special services, the commission unanimously supported the initiative to ban the messenger in the region.
Next steps
The final decision to ban Telegram will be made at a session of the Poltava Regional Council to be held in the near future. This decision will be an important step in ensuring information security in the region.
Expanding restrictions
This issue is not new. On 7 October, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, announced plans to restrict the use of Telegram for official purposes. Earlier, on 20 September, the National Coordination Centre for Cybersecurity held a meeting with representatives of the military leadership and decided to restrict the use of Telegram in government agencies, military formations and critical infrastructure facilities due to the threat to national security.
Official channels
It is important to note that the ban does not apply to official channels and will not affect the use of the messenger on personal smartphones. Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation, clarified that the ban applies only to the work computers of civil servants, military personnel and employees of critical facilities.
