The Telegram messenger, which had initially announced its intention to resist the Russian power's injunction to block the legislative voting instructions of the opponent Alexeï Navalny, finally deleted these instructions on Saturday.
Russian telecoms gendarme Roskomnadzor on Monday demanded the blocking of a robot (bot) on Telegram, through which voters could obtain instructions to vote for the candidates best placed in each constituency to beat those in power.
Messaging, founded by Russian Pavel Dourov, explained that he wanted to “limit the operation of bots linked to electoral campaigns” on his service.
Pavel Durov explained to him that he was only following Apple and Google, which "dictate the rules of the game for developers like us".
US giants follow same Telegram guidelines
The American giants Apple and Google also complied with these instructions on Friday by removing Alexeï Navalny's application from their stores, the opposition accusing them of "giving in to the Kremlin's blackmail".
On Telegram, Pavel Durov underlined that the giants of the Internet had asked “already this year” to his service to remove content violating the laws of certain countries, under penalty of being withdrawn from their stores.
He said that “the blocking of applications by Apple and Google sets a dangerous precedent that will affect freedom of expression in Russia and around the world”.
As almost no candidate truly opposed to Vladimir Putin has been allowed to run for the legislative elections, Alexeï Navalny's supporters have set up a strategy known as the “smart vote”, intended to support the candidate - often Communist - in the best position. to defeat that of the party in power, United Russia.
In the past, this tactic had met with some success, especially in Moscow in 2019, and the authorities have worked in recent months to block all access to these voting instructions.
Alexeï Navalny was imprisoned and his movement classified as "extremist" and banned.
After the Telegram bot disappeared, Alexei Navalny's supporters took to Twitter, posting links to documents on Google Docs containing voting instructions.
According to Alexey Navalny's allies, Google on Saturday demanded the deletion of these documents following a request from Roskomnadzor, threatening to erase it.
The legislative but also local elections in Russia started on Friday and will last until Sunday evening.
Planet
Energy: "The coming decline of oil is another excellent reason to make the energy transition"
World
Russia: Vladimir Putin explains that "several dozen people" of his entourage have the coronavirus
Alexei Navalny
World