📰 The requirement for verification of Russian telegram channels. 🤡 The useless Runet organization Roskomnadzor has started demanding verification from Russian Telegram channels via the @Trustchannelbot bot. This bot is designed for third-party verification of chats (supergroups and channels).

👹 As of today, Roskomnadzor has made this stage [the appointment of a bot] mandatory. 🤖 Until today, installing a bot was optional; now if the bot is not installed on your public channel during the verification process, the application will be rejected.. ✏️ It was enough to specify the registration ID in channel description or attach the link to Gosuslugi (platform for verification of bloggers) since the law on registration of bloggers entered into force on November 1, 2024.

🚓 Today's decision is due to the easier deanonymization of admins, because look at the insane verification process (ru), which includes the mandatory collection of phone numbers of all their admins. 👨‍⚖️ Starting in September 2025, if you abandon this verification method, such channels will not only be banned from advertising and reposts, but their administrators will be fined up to 500,000 rubles (Code of Administrative Offenses, paragraph 14.3).

Example of verification description:

🅰️ Регистрация в РКН: https://gosuslugi.ru/snet/673761b8b5d2ec30cf7356c3

📰 6-digit authorization codes officially began to come for +86 numbers (China Mainland). It was first recorded at the very end of August.

📰 The sixth mailing from the service account +42777 to all accounts with a French phone number. 🇫🇷📱 This time the message is sent to the post of Mr. Durov on April 21.

Aujourd’hui, l’Union européenne a failli interdire votre droit à la vie privée. Une loi devait être votée, obligeant les applications à scanner tous les messages privés et transformant chaque téléphone en un outil de surveillance.

La France a été le moteur de ce projet autoritaire, avec le soutien des anciens et actuels ministres de l’Intérieur, Bruno Retailleau et Laurent Nuñez. En mars dernier, ils ont déclaré que la police devrait pouvoir consulter les messages privés des citoyens français (détails ici). Les Républicains et Renaissance, le parti de Macron, ont voté en faveur de cette loi.

De telles mesures censées « lutter contre la criminalité » visent en réalité les citoyens ordinaires. Elles n’arrêteraient pas les criminels — qui pourraient simplement utiliser des VPN ou des sites spéciaux pour se cacher. Les messages des autorités et de la police ne seraient pas non plus surveillés, car la loi les en protège. Seuls VOUS — simples citoyens — risqueriez de voir vos photos et messages privés compromis.

Aujourd’hui, nous avons défendu la vie privée : l'Allemagne, par sa prise de position soudaine, a préservé nos droits. Toutefois, la menace qui pèse sur nos libertés demeure. Alors que les dirigeants français réclament un accès total aux messages privés, les droits fondamentaux des Français — et de tous les Européens — restent menacés.

📰 Don't ask where TDesktop version 6.2.1 is, because Preston "accidentally" released a version with a very interesting premium feature - setting up message repetition during schedule message.

Thanks: 💌💌💌

💻 Telegram #Desktop v6.2:

Comments and reactions in group calls.
Notes for contacts.
Suggested birthdays.
Threads for AI bots.
Reorder gifts collections and stories albums.
Reorder gifts inside collections.
Apply tags instantly when forwarding to Saved Messages.
Choose which screen to show notifications on.
Nice text message sending animation.

v6.2.2:

Fix layer.

🆕 v6.2.3:

Fix crash when viewing messages with hidden senders.
Fix possible crash when editing contacts.
Fix layout of character count warning in contact notes.
Fix icons when editing contacts.
Fix color of sending messages animation in complex themes.
Fix crash in chat open on Flatpak build.

🕓 Previous versions.
⬇️ Download: website or Github.

📰 #tip: If you use Telegram widgets on iOS 26, it is not recommended to include icons for "tinted" and "clear" when configuring the Home screen. The consequence is in the photo.

📰 These are not paid stories, these are Live Stories, which can be viewed in version 12.1.1. The developer is not broadcasting live stories (not loading) at the moment.

Thanks : 💌💌💌

📰Now you can post your ideas for future innovations and bugs found in the new @bugs miniapp. 🪲 For those who are uncomfortable sitting on the site bugs.telegram.org.

📱 Tweet responses from Durov.

Sources: 💌 + 💌 + 💌 + 💌 + 💌

📰 One of the most dangerous Telegram forks has appeared – telega! ⚠️🇷🇺 A Russian Telegram fork recently emerged. It began appearing in Telegram Ads, including aggressive ads after attempting to call another user from the same fork. The name comes from abbreviated slang used to refer to Telegram.

🔍 The channel "bruhcollective." decompiled the .apk file, and here's what we now know:
1. PROXY_ADDRESS leads to VK servers, MYTRACKER_SDK_KEY is a mail.ru tracker (linked to VK), and CALLS_BASE_URL is sent through Odnoklassniki (also linked to VK) (a cherry on top of the MAX messenger).
2. There are ads, also through mail.ru.
3. There's a "proprietary channel blacklist" to restrict users to blogs "undesirable in Russia," and this line isn't in the official client.
4. The client code is partially copied from Catogram*, right down to the variable names.
5. Phone numbers, authorization keys, and a lot of unnecessary data are sent to their servers.
6. The VK Video and VK Clips interfaces are substituted in JS to hide their branding.
7. Icons can be replaced with VK-specific ones.
* bruhcollective owns the Catogram development - @iTysonLab.

❄️ Another danger is that the fork automatically launches their bots and subscribes to their official Telegram channel. This method can lead to account FREEZING, so be careful! Verified by @madrik.

Why did this client appear? There's an explanation. 😠 Simply because the national messenger MAX (also an import-substituting WeChat) failed to lure users en masse from Telegram. This radical approach was chosen due to the revolt against the government's decision to block calls from foreign messengers under the pretext of «fighting fraud» (we covered this), but in reality, more such attacks occur via mobile networks.

Sources: 💌, 💌, 💌