DISINFO: The CIA used Telegram to attempt colour revolutions and encourage riots
SUMMARY
The CIA loves Telegram. The encrypted app was used by US spies to attempt color revolutions and encourage riots against foreign governments it deems undesirable. Telegram has been the darling of the CIA, the State Department, and USAID for political operations worldwide, due to its nearly billion users and the ease with which they can be directed to necessary channels for recruitment. It was the main channel when the US was effectively orchestrating a color revolution in Belarus in 2020. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was actually paying the main administrators of the Telegram channels that orchestrated those riots. This practice is part of a long-running campaign by the US, UK, and other NATO partners to gain political control over the territories of the former Soviet Union and their resources.
RESPONSE
There is no evidence provided to back this claim. This disinformation story aims to exploit the arrest of Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov in France to promote a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing popular protests as foreign-backed colour revolutions.
The allegation that the National Endowment for Democracy was paying Belarusians organizing protests in Telegram is unsubstantiated. Demonstrations in Belarus were massive and could hardly be organized by a handful of agents working for a foreign power, and Telegram was a natural choice for opposition members to use since it was very popular among Belarusians. By portraying protesters as paid by a foreign intelligence service, this disinformation story aims to discredit these mobilisations, in line with allegations repeatedly made by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the CIA and US-financed organisations planned an August 2020 uprising in Belarus, that the US and EU want to orchestrate a Euromaidan-like scenario in Georgia at parliamentary elections, that the US is recreating the Ukrainian scenario in Kazakhstan for its anti-Russian struggle, or that protests in Venezuela were definitely financed by Washington.