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“Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” has appealed to Telegram founder Pavel Durov with a request to make paid reactions to posts anonymous. The human rights defenders consider Telegram Stars’ current privacy settings to be a “critical vulnerability” that allows Russian law enforcement to prosecute users under criminal charges of financing terrorism (Art. 205.1, part 1.1 of the Russian Criminal Code).
When a paid reaction is sent, the user’s profile may appear in the public “Top Senders” section. All it takes for law enforcement is to look at this list to see who has sent “stars.” A user can hide their profile manually, but this needs to be done 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, law enforcement may regard a paid reaction as a money transfer to a banned organisation. Furthermore, a criminal case could be initiated even for sending “stars” in an ordinary channel, if that channel previously collected funds for such an organisation.
As an example, “Memorial” cites the case of 56-year-old Mikhail Antonovich from Tyumen, a regional centre in western Siberia. He is accused of financing terrorism because of nine paid reactions sent between August and September 2024 in the Telegram channels “NEVZOROV,” “Nakipelo. Michael Naki,” and Sasha Shpak Official. The total value of the reactions was 292 roubles 99 kopecks (about US$3). The case is currently being heard by the Central District Military Court.
“Memorial” suggests that Telegram should make paid reactions anonymous by default or add a privacy setting that allows them to always be sent anonymously. Other suggestions include: allowing channel owners to hide sender lists, warning users about risks, and concealing data for those who have already sent “stars” in public channels.
“Today, the technical transparency of Stars sender lists directly threatens the freedom and lives of hundreds of people,” the appeal says.
Earlier, OVD-Info explained how Telegram Stars work, what risks are associated with paid reactions, and how to hide your profile when sending them.