Russian independent media Telegram channels flooded with suspicious new followers
Several independent Russian news outlets, including Meduza, are reporting a sudden and apparently artificial surge in Telegram subscribers. It remains unclear who is behind the phenomenon, though some suggest a link to the upcoming State Duma elections.
Several independent Russian news outlets have reported an unusually sharp rise in Telegram subscribers over the past few days, which journalists describe as an apparent bot attack.
Important Stories said its channel gained 10,000 new subscribers recently, and that the data shows this growth is not organic. According to the outlet, most of the new followers are inactive accounts with no profile pictures and computer-generated names.
Similar sudden subscriber spikes have hit TV Rain, Novaya Gazeta, the Ostorozhno, Novosti channel, and Astra in recent days. Politician Boris Nadezhdin has also complained that his subscriber count was being artificially inflated.
Propaganda channels affected too
Notably, the influx of empty accounts has not been limited to independent outlets. The Russian-language RT channel reported a similar surge, describing the new accounts as lacking photos, posts, or any signs of a real person. TV host Vladimir Solovyov's Telegram channel has also seen its subscriber count artificially boosted.
What exactly is driving the increase remains unknown. TV Rain suggested that inflated subscriber numbers could be used as grounds for mass complaints aimed at getting a channel blocked, potentially tied to the upcoming State Duma elections. Important Stories noted that it experienced a similar surge after publishing an investigation into underage sex trafficking that named billionaire Oleg Deripaska as one of the network's clients.
