On Monday 27 February, MEPs from the ECR, EPP and Renew Europe groups sent a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, asking her to take action against Russian propaganda on the Telegram messaging platform.
“We recognise the positive role that Telegram has played in providing a platform for pro-Ukrainian information sources. At the same time, we believe that channels such as Telegram should be more proactive in monitoring their own content”, say the signatories of the document.
In particular, MEPs insist that Russian TV “presenter and propagandist” Vladimir Solovyov and RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan (see EUROPE 13116/24) are using Telegram to disseminate disinformation and pro-Putin content to a wide audience.
“The immediate exclusion of Russian propaganda channels from Telegram - as well as from any other application available on Google Play and/or from the Apple Store - would be a tangible step in the right direction”, they added. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)