For what Telegram is used in Romania and how to see a specialist from Expert Forums Pavel Durov's accusations regarding the elections in Romania

The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, accused on the head of the General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) that in the pressed to “silence the conservative voices” on his platform, before the elections in Romania. An expert in digital research from Expert Forum has explained, for the public Hotnews, that the level of use and purpose of using Telegram in Romania are not able to influence the users.

The Facebook platform, owned by Mark Zuckerberg, is the most used social network in Romania, with almost 10 million users, according to the annual “Digital Global Overview” report. In the second place is Tiktok, where there are over 9 million Romanians.

As for Telegram, there is no record of the real number of users who use the platform in Romania, as there are no data about Telegram anywhere.

In February 2024, several EU experts claimed for the Financial Times that the number of users is under -rated, to remain below the threshold of 45 million users. Online platforms that exceed this number are subject to European rules, which regulate content.

Durov's platform estimated then that he has 41 million users in the EU.

What do tiktok and facebook do, what do Telegram do

And if there were these figures, a comparison between social networks such as Facebook, Tiktok and Telegram would not be relevant, explain to the public Hotnews the expert in socio-political and digital research from Expert Forum Mădălina Voinea. In this case, the quantitative comparison does not ensure an accuracy of the mirror of the phenomenon. Why?

Because Tiktok and Facebook are social media platforms where people post, interact and discover content, being “impact impacts” channels. They gather millions of people who spend three to four hours daily, “dominate the political information space in Romania”.

Telegram is a messaging platform, considered a “dissemination” channel. The platform has channels or groups through which people receive information, the main feature of Telegram. According to the expert, although the platform is not transparent in terms of number of users, it estimates a maximum of 3 million people using Telegram once a month. But “that means nothing. You can enter five minutes every month,” she adds.

How Russian propaganda circulates

“What we know, however, is that Russian propaganda is first brought to Telegram and is exploited on Facebook and Tiktok. Viralization does not happen on Telegram. Telegram is a point to enter the average from us,” says Mădălina Voinea.

This means that through the Telegram groups, fake information and propaganda reach a small number of people, after which they take them on Facebook and Tiktok. From these networks are distributed by ordinary people.

Asked what would have been the impact of “silent reduction of conservative voices” on Telegram, an accusation launched by Pavel Durov during the presidential elections in Romania, the expert claimed that “it would not have been”. Without explanations related to the requests made by France, “his statement is even clearer, in turn, an interference in elections,” the expert argues.

Telegram also appeared in SRI reports desecretized by Iohannis

In December 2024, Klaus Iohannis settled several documents from the CSAT. In the SRI reports there is talk of an operation that was carried out in favor of Călin Georgescu and which has the “operating mode of a state actor”. And telegram accounts and groups were invoked in the report.

According to the documents, a propagating telegram channel-“I also get the Renaissance of Romania Energy Water Food”-it had the role of coordinating other users regarding the distributed posts and content.

In November 2024, context.ro reported on how Călin Georgescu is promoted on a Russian telegram channel in Spanish, followed by over 75,000 people. From there, the information was taken over and were viral on the Internet.

When it comes to the use of Telegram as a channel for organizing some demonstrations or activities, Presson wrote in April that the platform is used by a neonazist group from the Republic of Moldova to recruit young Romanian to aggressing homeless people or vandalizing Jewish monuments. Thus, several Telegram groups are used to organize and promote violent activities.