A trust label or a control mask? The story of one "official" bot in Telegram
In early spring, when the information field traditionally begins to seethe with rumors and half-hints, news suddenly appeared on Telegram, which instantly spread through the channels: the messenger allegedly launched a system for labeling channels registered with Roskomnadzor.
Let's take a closer look at this issue - is it true or fake?
Will major channels in the Russian Federation be marked?
Is registration with Roskomnadzor mandatory?
Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, is the initiator of the new trend in the RCN's policy towards Telegram and the main source of the news. The RCN bot also has a user agreement that proves that the work has been carried out since at least January 2025.
The essence of the news is simple:
- If the channel has more than 10 thousand subscribers and it is listed in a certain register, then now a proud "A+" mark will appear next to its name — a symbol of the supposedly official status and trust of the state.
- And advertisers, they say, can rest easy: the money goes "to verified content."
Earlier, Gorelkin said that the State Duma would develop penalties for blog owners with an audience of more than 10,000 people who refuse to register in the RCN registry.
There's just one problem. Such a system does not officially exist in Telegram.
Factcheck says: a lie or, at best, manipulation.
According to the human rights project "First Department", Telegram did introduce the possibility of verification through third-party services at the beginning of the year. Anyone can use it, from media agencies to crypto exchanges. All this is not about state registers, not about the RCN, and even more so not about the transfer of data to special services. But for some reason, Deputy Gorelkin decided to embellish the picture.
That is how, using the official tone, the mention of the RCN and the supposedly "special" mark, the authorities, apparently, are trying to intimidate the owners of the channels. Like, sign up and you'll get an A+ and peace of mind. In fact, it provides full access to information about the channel, its administrators, their phone numbers, and even the ability to interfere with management.
Yes, according to the "terms of use" that magically surfaced online, a bot launched ostensibly for registration can:
- Track changes in the channel,
- Transfer data to security forces,
- Add users to the admin panel without notification,
- And, of course, to please you with promotional newsletters. You can opt out, but not from the bot itself — it cannot be deleted.
Conclusion
What should the owners of major channels in the Russian Federation do?
But who is behind this bot? What role does Telegram's management play? There are no answers. Just an asterisk in the interface, which supposedly hints at "formality".
However, according to experts, this is only part of the visual design available to other services. It's just a beautifully and frighteningly designed fake.
Dmitry Zair-Bek, the head of the "First Department", says bluntly:
- "Gorelkin is actually trying to trick the owners of telegram channels into giving the authorities as much information about themselves as possible. It's not a Telegram system at all—it's a political hoax."
So before you panic and rush headlong to register your channel for the sake of the ephemeral "A+", you'd better think about it.:
- Does Telegram depend on the RCN and does the TG impose its point of view on you, as the "official bot" does?
In a world where any letter can turn into an instrument of pressure, be attentive, even to the most convincing "ticks"
