Disclosure of anonymity of Telegram channels: Yurchyshyn spoke about ideas in Rada

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, said this in a comment to an Ukrinform correspondent.

“The Rada is currently working on a certain case. One of the ideas is to impose liability by de-anonymizing users if they violate certain criminal articles on social media. We are not talking about complete deanonymization. But if anonymous users start spreading, in particular, Russian propaganda, then of course, we will demand that social networks deanonymize these users,” he said.

Yurchyshyn clarified that the Verkhovna Rada is now faced with the task of developing a solution that would simultaneously comply with the European Digital Service Act, address security challenges in the country, and prepare social media users for the changes. The committee chairman also noted that decisions on social media could be made at the level of other structures, including the National Security and Defense Council.

“I have information [as of September 19] that the National Security and Defense Council is working in this regard. In particular, it is about developing recommendations for public authorities on the use of certain social networks in the workplace,” he said.

The parliamentarian also added that the possible regulation would apply to all social networks, not just Telegram.

“What concerns Telegram will most likely apply to other social networks as well, because the regulation will apply to all social networks,” he said.

At the same time, Yurchyshyn emphasized that there is no talk of banning any social networks.

“The Verkhovna Rada has no authority to ban anything. We can authorize certain social networks, as it was with Odnoklassniki or VKontakte, but this requires a decision of the National Security and Defense Council, enacted by a presidential decree. In this case, the Verkhovna Rada can only provide material for this, as can the Security Service and the National Police, but nothing more. Therefore, the law on the ban is definitely not on the agenda, and in principle it cannot be,” he added.

As Ukrinform reported, only 9% of Ukrainians support a complete ban on the Telegram messenger. Instead, the majority - 54% - believe that certain restrictions and controls should be introduced.