After the appearance of false reports about the blocking of the Dota 2 game in the Russian Federation and the ban on the PMC Redan movement, Roskomnadzor (RKN) sent a letter to the administration of the Telegram messenger demanding to block the fake channel of the Director of the Safe Internet League Ekaterina Mizulina, a representative of Roskomnadzor told Vedomosti. The Telegram office did not respond to a request.
Roskomnadzor received information about a fake account of Ekaterina Mizulina in Telegram, a representative of the service told Vedomosti. “In this regard, on March 3, 2023, a letter was sent to the Telegram messenger with a request to restrict access to the account and verify the Telegram channel of E. M. Mizulina,” he added.
On Friday, March 3, Mizulina warned about the appearance of fake messages on her behalf in the official channel. Judging by the information in the profile, the fake channel has existed since the beginning of 2023. Most of the publications in it duplicate posts from the real one. Since February, fake messages attributed to Mizulina began to appear in it.
Externally, the channel practically does not differ from the real one, in order to mislead users, a fake “blue check mark” has been added to the public avatar, imitating Telegram verification. According to the TgSTAT service, which analyzes the attendance of Telegram channels, after February 23, the fake channel began a sharp increase in the number of subscribers: from 8,400 followers to more than 17,000 by the beginning of March.
The topic of possible blocking of Dota2 and Redan attracted new subscribers to the channel, notes Natalia Tylevich, CEO of the Social Laboratory company. “But we also see traces of “cheating” the audience to further attract subscribers, this can be seen from the statistics of subscribed users,” she explains. According to her, there are open comments on the channel, there is no moderation, “accordingly, many indignant schoolchildren could go there and subscribe to track hype posts and comments.” “The one who runs this channel does it professionally – combining both “cheating” with bots and attracting real users to the content,” Tylevich noted.
“Telegram does not respond to numerous requests from the Safe Internet League to the support service, which grossly violates the provisions of the federal law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection,” Mizulina stated in her Telegram channel. She also clarified to Vedomosti that she considers the Ukrainian Center for Information and Psychological Operations (TsIPSO) and “individual provocateurs to spread misinformation” to be involved in the creation of the channel.
“This is a targeted media attack against our country, and the use of my name in this campaign is just one of the elements. I think that such fakes will only grow,” Mizulina said. Basically, such messages are aimed at inciting anxiety among teenagers and youth, the director of the League suggested.
Telegram is included in the register of social networks of the RKN and the platform itself is subject to the requirements of the law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” regarding the dissemination of information in social networks, reminds Moscow Digital School teacher, lawyer Gennady Uvarkin. “The owner of the messenger is subject to a number of obligations, in particular, to respect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens and organizations, including the honor, dignity and business reputation of citizens, the business reputation of organizations and many others,” he said.
The dissemination of untrue facts on behalf of a public person defames her business reputation and qualifies as slander. “The authors of such a channel could face up to two years in prison if law enforcement agencies establish their guilt in disseminating information that was deliberately false,” says Alena Grishkova, a lawyer for Pen & Paper.
In addition to being held liable for defamation, the authors of the channel can be held liable for violating personal data laws, given that violators use the name and photograph of Mizulina, adds Uvarkin. True, difficulties may arise in identifying the author and proving in court that it was he who wrote the messages that violate the law. Difficulties may also arise with the implementation of the court decision, the expert noted.