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“Support for political prisoners. Memorial” has appealed to Telegram founder Pavel Durov, asking him to make paid reactions to posts anonymous. Human rights activists believe the current privacy settings for Telegram Stars are “a critical vulnerability” that allow Russian security forces to prosecute users under cases of funding terrorism (paragraph 1.1, Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
When sending a paid reaction, the user’s profile can appear in the public “Top Senders” section. Security forces only need to check this list to see who sent “stars.” You can hide your profile manually, but you have to do this separately for each post. There is no way to always send “stars” anonymously in Telegram’s general settings.
According to the authors of the letter, the security forces may consider a paid reaction as transferring money to a banned organisation. A criminal case may be launched even over “stars” in a regular channel, if money for such an organisation was collected there previously.
As an example, Memorial cites the case of 56-year-old Mikhail Antonovich from Tyumen, a major city in western Siberia. He is accused of financing terrorism because of nine paid reactions in the Telegram channels “NEVZOROV,” “Nakipelo. Michael Naki” and Sasha Shpak Official, sent between August and September 2024. Their total value was 292 roubles 99 kopecks (approx. US$3). The case is now being considered by the Central District Military Court.
Memorial is asking Telegram to make paid reactions anonymous by default or to add an option in privacy settings that would always send them anonymously. Other suggestions include: giving channel owners the ability to hide sender lists, warning users about the risks, and hiding the details of those who have already sent “stars” in public channels.
“Today, the technical transparency of Stars sender lists poses a direct threat to the freedom and lives of hundreds of people,” reads the appeal.
Earlier, OVD-Info explained how Telegram Stars work, what risks are associated with paid reactions, and how to hide your profile when sending them.