Russian legislators are still utilizing Telegram as their primary means of communication with the public, despite a directive from the Kremlin encouraging a shift to the state-supported messaging app Max, as reported by the Kommersant business daily on Friday, referencing a study.
The research conducted by the consulting firm Polilog revealed that lawmakers from the ruling United Russia party boast the highest overall Telegram following, with approximately 4.8 million subscribers.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of the State Duma and a member of United Russia, has the highest average number of views and reposts among deputies.
He is followed in popularity by the leader of the New People party, Alexei Nechaev, his deputy Vladislav Davankov, and Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR).
On average, posts from New People lawmakers receive around 31,000 views each, which is almost three times the average of 11,200 views for deputies from United Russia.
LDPR and A Just Russia representatives average around 11,400 and 10,600 views per post, respectively.
The analysis also indicated that about 25% of deputies post only text updates on Telegram, while 55% share a mix of text and images, and 20% distribute video content. Approximately 116 deputies post short video clips, known as “circles,” whereas only 23 utilize voice messages. When sharing content across different platforms, Telegram remains their preferred choice.
These results emerge as the Russian government intensifies efforts to promote Max, a “national messenger” intended to supplant apps owned by Western companies.
In August, the state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor began to impose restrictions on calls made via Telegram and WhatsApp.
Around the same time, the presidential administration directed lawmakers and officials to transition their official communications to Max and establish a “priority information system” on that platform, as reported by the exiled news outlet Vyorstka.
The initiative is managed by Dialog, a state-linked organization that oversees regional communication centers responsible for citizen engagement on behalf of the government.
On August 13, Duma Speaker Volodin announced the initiation of his Max channel, and shortly thereafter, parliamentary press offices notified journalists that all official statements would henceforth be confined to the new platform.
Messages within Duma Telegram chats at that time suggested that updates would no longer be issued on Telegram, a guideline that many lawmakers seemingly disregarded in practice.
