- Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has charged Pavel Durov, the founder of the messaging app Telegram, with aiding terrorism and placed him on an international wanted list.
- The FSB alleges that Telegram failed to remove channels, chats, and bots actively used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, terrorist, and extremist organisations for sabotage, terrorism, mass murder, and cyberfraud in Russia, resulting in "numerous human casualties."
- Durov, who was born in Russia but later moved abroad, had earlier accused Russian authorities of fabricating pretexts to restrict Telegram as part of an attempt to "suppress the right to privacy and free speech."
- These charges are part of Russia's intensified, long-term efforts under president Vladimir Putin to bring the internet under full control, which has included banning popular social media platforms and throttling others since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
- Russia is also actively promoting its own "national" messaging app, MAX, which critics claim could be used for surveillance as it openly shares user data with authorities and lacks end-to-end encryption.
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