Telegram founder boasts that he understands Ukrainian as Ukraine considers banning the messaging service
More than two-thirds of Ukrainians use Telegram to send messages and read the news, according to a post by the messaging app's founder, Pavel Durov.
"While Ukraine accounts for less than 3% of Telegram’s global audience, more than 70% of Ukrainians use Telegram for messaging and news, and we’re seeing more and more content in Ukrainian being posted," he wrote.
It’s worth noting that Pavel Durov focused heavily on the Ukrainian language in his post. For example, he said he had been interested in the language since he was a teenager and had "inevitably learned some Ukrainian" as part of his work.
The Telegram founder also revealed that he had continued his studies on Duolingo, and that now, when monitoring channels in the messaging app, he understands "about 95% of written and 85% of spoken Ukrainian".
He added that his ability to read Ukrainian without a translation means he can ensure that "Telegram's moderation processes are fair to all sides".
However, Durov's "confessions" show that his post is political in nature. It comes at a time when Ukraine is increasingly considering banning Telegram, giving rise to suspicions that this is unlikely to be a coincidence.
It's also worth mentioning that the Telegram founder reiterated the platform's impartiality, stating that the rules apply equally to all parties – making the timing of these remarks even less likely to be coincidental.
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