For Authorities, Telegram Has Become a Real Headache: Fakt

According to the newspaper Fakt, "Armenia has never had a government so fearful of information flows and so actively fighting against both acceptable and unacceptable tools and possible and impossible means to control such information. Moreover, this has primarily been targeted at internal information sources rather than external ones.

Recently, our public has also started to actively use Telegram channels as an alternative source of information. According to the Fakt newspaper, Telegram has become a genuine headache for the current authorities in Armenia. Our sources inform us that the authorities are considering options to impose control over the widely used Telegram channels in the Republic of Armenia.

The issue arises from the fact that the platform for political discourse and criticism has somewhat shifted from Facebook to Telegram. Generally, Telegram channels cannot be "blocked" like Facebook pages, nor can they easily be attacked by bots. This last point has particularly distressed the government, as the bot industry continues to operate fully on Facebook.

On the other hand, they cannot actually prohibit Telegram's operations within the country, meaning that the Armenian authorities are faced with a dilemma: either to tolerate and adapt to the current situation or to take radical "draconian" measures to resolve the issue. However, so far, they have not been able to conceive any "sensible" solutions.

Moreover, according to our sources, specialists have repeatedly suggested to high-ranking officials that they are wasting their time with futile antics.

For more detailed information, see today's issue of the newspaper.