False news often spreads via public groups, or chats, with potentially fatal effects. On December 23rd, 2020, Pavel Durov posted to his channel that the company would need to start generating revenue. In early 2021, he added that any advertising on the platform would not use user data for targeting, and that it would be focused on “large one-to-many channels.” He pledged that ads would be “non-intrusive” and that most users would simply not notice any change. Although some channels have been removed, the curation process is considered opaque and insufficient by analysts. Artem Kliuchnikov and his family fled Ukraine just days before the Russian invasion. Recently, Durav wrote on his Telegram channel that users' right to privacy, in light of the war in Ukraine, is "sacred, now more than ever."
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