Russia Vows to Retaliate over EU Telegram Censorship
RUSSIA – On Sunday, the European Union (EU) banned all Russian state media from Telegram, fueling further tensions with Russia, pushing Moscow to condemn the Telegram censorship move, vowing retaliation.
The EU government censorship of Telegram is evident through the banning of Russia’s state-backed media, and US, Canada, Germany and Australia share the same sentiment, highlighting EU efforts to curb misinformation on Telegram in Europe.
This is part of wider measures by Western countries to moderate social media’s influence on public opinion during war. Although further details remain vague, these measures reveal blurred boundaries between defense, diplomacy, public communication, and information warfare, emphasizing difficulties in managing online information and its alterations on user opinions, as seen with Telegram censorship.
This move affects news outlets like Ria Novosti, Rossiya 1, Pervyi Kanal, NTV, as well as newspapers Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Articles such as ‘Russia Vows Response After State Media Blocked On Telegram In EU,’ show these channels are inaccessible in France, Belgium, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, and Italy.
Neither Telegram EU nor EU representatives have commented on the move, but the action follows earlier EU bans on state media over propaganda claims.
“The systematic cleansing of all undesirable sources of information from the information space continues,” said Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, announcing the move as censorship to get rid of the information space of unwanted opinions.
“Russia reserves the right to respond in the same way,” Zakharova added.
Telegram Censorship Prospects
TheseTelegram EU Digital Services Act (DSA) moves are a new front in the broader clash between Russia and the West in the collision of media and social media.
Till this day, the Ukrainian war highlights how technology and information operations well beyond the traditional battlefields. With the technological support of the Telegram problem in Europe that it has been receiving, one need to add how every move Russia makes is criticized online. On the other side of the world, Israel is committing genocides on Palestine and breaking rules on the arranged ceasefire on Lebanon, but the media does not censor anyone that defends Israel. On the other side of the world the people who defend the ones with no power and monetary support or what we know as the Palestinians and Lebanese, have accounts censored and then removed.
Both sides are cracking on different tech war narratives, with war accentuating technology’s role and how when one country, such as Israel, has unmeasurable power over online narratives and actions, unlike Europe Telegram group which was banned immediately.
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