The creator of the Telegram messenger Pavel Durov posted a poll on his channel. “Which is better: 1) complete termination of Telegram in Russia; 2) suspension of work of campaign bots for two days of voting “, – it is suggested to choose in the message. At the time of publication, 24% of Durov's channel readers chose the first option, 76% – the other.
Voting in the elections to the State Duma took place in Russia from 17 to 19 September. On September 18, Telegram restricted the work of bots associated with the election campaign. Durov justified this by the end of the election campaign and the onset of the “day of silence”.
Among others, the work of the Smart Voting bot, a project by the team of opposition leader Alexei Navalny (the creator of the recognized extremist organization and the banned Anti-Corruption Fund), proposed to voters specific candidates, alternative to the representatives of United Russia, was stopped. Durov indicated that he had to take these measures under the threat of removing Telegram from the Apple and Google app stores.
Prior to that, Google and Apple removed the Navalny app, which contained the Smart Voting block. This decision was made after the relevant requirements from Roskomnadzor.
