Telegram and the FSB: Who’s Sending Emojis to Whom?

Everything you’ve written in Telegram about your boss, your neighbors, or the price of bananas might not only have been read, but also evaluated by the sternest FSB investigator. Journalists from “Important Stories” have delivered a new plotline for digital paranoids: part of Telegram’s server infrastructure is serviced by a company controlled by Vladimir Vedeneev — a man who’s been in the same boat as the Durov brothers since the VKontakte days.

Is it suspicious that Vedeneev’s companies have ties to the FSB? That’s a rhetorical question — like asking a cat if it ate the sour cream. According to investigators, if the hypothesis is correct, security services can not only learn your IP address and list of contacts, but also decide whether to invite you for tea — or straight to pre-trial detention.

Human rights activists from the “First Department” project recently reported that the FSB is even opening cases against Russians for chatting with Ukrainian Telegram channels. Officially, no one admits how exactly law enforcement gets these conversations, but by the time of the arrest, they somehow already have all the chats. Telepathy? No — it’s domestic cybersecurity!

While some argue about whether Telegram cooperates with Russian agencies, others are listening to podcasts and debating who will outlast whom: users or the messenger itself. Telegram founder Pavel Durov traditionally remains silent and refers to the service’s “absolute privacy.” But where does privacy end and Vedeneev-ism begin? That’s a good question for the next investigation.

In short, if you haven’t switched to carrier pigeons yet, now’s the time to remember how it’s done. Especially since pigeons — for now — aren’t under FSB control. Unlike Telegram’s servers.