Telegram dude was already allegedly cooperating and moderating for the Russian government. If true he loses any argument that suggests he was defending privacy or free speech.
Are you at all familiar with "Telegram Dude"? A fugitive of the Russian Government, an expat whose Facebook-like social network VKontakte was seized by the Russian Government, before he fled Russia and started an encrypted messaging app in response?
I'm no expert on his current activities, but this isn't a situation without Known Context.
there are news articles (I admit, of questionable origin) the claim he visited Russia yearly for the past decade. I do wonder if it the situation is a little more complex then he was a fugitive of the Russian Government
Further, there have been constant references, in articles from very reliable, reputable sources (see: CNN, NYT, FOX, etc.) since Russia's invasion into Ukraine about Russia's use of Telegram. I don't know that I could count the number of times I've seen phrases akin to, "based on conversations between Russian military commanders on Telegram," used as a source. The issue is that Russia's military essentially sucked at setting up their own communications channels, so they fell back to Telegram.
