It’s important to understand whether there are FSB’s hands in Telegram.

The public is still unaware of Telegram’s ownership system, so it is not known whether the FSB’s hands are suddenly behind the social network.

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, said this during a conference on media literacy and media self-regulation, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrinform.

What is known about Telegram's ownership structure

"We still do not understand the ownership system of certain social networks, including Telegram. It is important to understand whether this social network, like Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte, has the hands of the FSB behind it. The Main Intelligence Directorate and the SSU say that it is very likely that it is," Yurchyshyn said.

Read more: Apple demands Telegram to block number of channels for Ukrainian users

Are there mechanisms for regulating social networks?

He explained that it is impossible to regulate the activities of any particular social network through legislation, so in this case Ukraine will be guided by the practices that exist in the European Union, in accordance with the Digital Service Act. "The only thing is that not all social networks (including Telegram and TikTok) are subject to these rules. Therefore, we may have to further regulate our relations with such networks," the MP said.

"We need to understand who is behind the network; who represents it and what are the mechanisms for removing content that violates Ukrainian law," Yurchyshyn explained.

"Everything from spreading subversive Russian propaganda to selling drugs, weapons and even child pornography is happening on anonymous Telegram channels," said Mykyta Poturaiev, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Read more: More than 150 media professionals from Ukraine and abroad appealed to Freedom of Speech Committee to dismiss Humeniuk

Communication with TikTok

At the same time, Yurchyshyn hopes that it will be possible to find mechanisms of communication with the networks, as has already happened with Viber. "We are currently in the process of establishing communication with TikTok, just recently 24 accounts of Russian propagandists in this network on the territory of Ukraine were blocked," said the deputy.

As a reminder, the head of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov said that Telegram is a huge problem for Ukraine.

According to a poll conducted by the Democracy Initiatives Foundation in cooperation with the Razumkov Center, 53% of Ukrainians learn about the war from Telegram channels.