Ukraine must protect itself from Russian influence on social media: MP Kniazhytskyi on Telegram regulation

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"I am very pleased that after the discussion, the draft law was supported by representatives of various parliamentary factions. This draft law is not only about Telegram, but about all social networks. The point is that Ukraine must be protected from Russian influence on social media. We have a law on media that regulates some social networks, such as Youtube, but Telegram and many other social networks remain outside its regulation. For us, it is extremely important that the state be able to make sure that the enemy, the Russian Federation, does not use all these social networks. To do this, the Russians will need to open a representative office in Ukraine in accordance with the European Digital Act, because if you want to work in Europe, you have to open a representative office," commented Mykola Kniazhytskyi.

According to him, the law applies to those social networks that allow to submit a news feed, for example, in Viber or WhatsApp, or in Telegram. And those who submit such a news feed must follow certain rules. One of them is that the state should know who the ultimate owners of such networks are.

"Society must be protected on social media from broadcasting pornography, calls to overthrow the state system, and other rules that are already in place for Youtube. Accordingly, this should also apply to other social networks. If such a social network is associated with Russia, then its use by Ukrainian government officials should be stopped. As for private individuals, they can use it because there is freedom of speech, which we all respect. However, besides freedom of speech, there is national security. The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting should have regulated such networks as it does with Youtube. Very often, these messengers or social networks are used as bots by government agencies, and this is also a problem. If the servers are located in Russia, then Russians can monitor your every move through your phone. All of this needs to be checked and regulated to protect our country and prevent Russians from getting additional weapons," the Ukrainian MP summarized.

• On March 21, MP Mykola Kniazhytskyi proposed to regulate Telegram, which is of Russian origin, in Ukraine. However, he did not suggest blocking the messenger.