A deputy who warned about the dangers of buying Telegram Premium bought it himself. The heads of Roskomnadzor, the Digital Ministry, and VK also have paid subscriptions...
A deputy who warned about the dangers of buying Telegram Premium bought it himself. The heads of Roskomnadzor, the Digital Ministry, and VK also have paid subscriptions
Andrei Svintsov, deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on information policy, who recommended that Russians not use financial instruments inside Telegram, has himself bought a premium subscription in the messenger, Verstka noticed.
Apparently, the deputy is an active Telegram user: by now he has posted more than 1,030 stories on his profile. In one of the latest, Vladimir Putin appears: Svintsov photographed the president on Monday, when he was speaking at the final plenary session of the State Duma.
Earlier today, Svintsov said that Russians should refrain from buying subscriptions and carrying out financial transactions in Telegram until Roskomnadzor and the FSB provide clarification.
"No paid subscriptions, no purchases of TON currency, and so on. That is, I do not recommend any operations inside the Telegram ecosystem to our citizens," the deputy said.
Besides Svintsov, Roskomnadzor chief Andrei Lipov and Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev have also bought premium subscriptions on Telegram, Verstka verified. Both were online "recently." That status means they were definitely online within the last two to three days.
In addition, Vladimir Kiriyenko, the CEO of VK, which benefits from the squeezing out of independent messengers and internet platforms, also pays for a premium Telegram account.
🟦Svintsov made the call to refrain from using financial instruments inside Telegram after the FSB reported that a criminal case had been opened against the messenger's creator Pavel Durov. The security service said he is accused of aiding terrorist activity (Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code).
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Officials warned against paid features while paying for them themselves.
The restrictions were not for them again.