# Telegram Messaging and broadcast-channel app co-founded in 2013 by [[Pavel Durov]] and his brother Nikolai. Its mix of private chats and large public channels, with very light moderation, made it the default infrastructure for two worlds the vault tracks: **wartime Russian and Ukrainian information** and the **online extreme right**. ## What it is used for, in this vault - **Extremist organizing.** [[White Lives Matter]] reorganized in 2021 as a "Telegram-native" network; the [[Terrorgram Collective]] was built on its channels; [[Blood Tribe]] uses it as the first stage of its propaganda pipeline; and "dissident-right" meme vocabulary such as [[Dark MAGA]] and [[Clown World]] circulated there. - **The manosphere economy.** [[Andrew Tate]]'s paid coaching program ran on Discord and Telegram; see [[Manosphere Ecosystem]]. - **Platform migration.** After mainstream deplatforming, Telegram became one of the encrypted "parallel" channels described in [[Balkanization]] and [[Meme Warfare]]. - **The Russia–Ukraine war.** Russian troops in Ukraine still rely on it widely. ## The state closes in | Date | Event | |---|---| | Aug 2024 | France arrests Durov and places him under investigation over criminal use of the platform | | Feb 10, 2026 | Russia begins throttling Telegram | | Feb 24, 2026 | The FSB opens a terrorism case, claiming Telegram enabled more than 150,000 crimes since 2022 | | Apr 2026 | Telegram largely blocked in Russia | | July 29, 2026 | Russia charges Durov with aiding terrorism | Russia pushed users toward its state app MAX, as it did when it blocked [[WhatsApp]]. See [[Pavel Durov]].