Human rights defenders called on Pavel Durov to make paid reactions…

Human rights defenders called on Pavel Durov to make paid reactions on Telegram posts anonymous due to criminal prosecution of Russian users.

Consensus

The human rights project 'Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial' sent an open letter to Telegram founder Pavel Durov.
The letter requests making Telegram Stars (paid reactions) anonymous by default.
The group warns that public visibility of Telegram Stars senders in Russia may lead to criminal prosecution for financing terrorism.
Russian authorities are reportedly treating payments via Telegram Stars as transfers to banned groups linked to the Ukrainian military.
The case of 56- or 58-year-old Mikhail Antonovich from Tyumen is cited as an example, where nine paid reactions totaling 292.99 rubles led to charges.
The letter mentions that similar cases are known beyond this one.
The group proposes several technical solutions: default anonymity, global privacy settings, admin control over hiding donor lists, user warnings, and hiding past sender data.

The letter was sent to Durov by the 'Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial' project. — tg_astrapress
The letter was sent to Durov and mentions that Telegram Stars are used as evidence in criminal cases under Article 205.1, Part 1.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, which carries penalties up to life imprisonment. — tg_doxajournal
The letter was sent to Durov, and the group notes that in 2026, donations via Telegram Stars were reclassified as treason. — tg_severrealii
The letter was sent to Durov; the group notes that users must manually enable anonymity per post, with no global setting. — novaya_eu
The letter was sent to Durov with a claim that the practice of treating Telegram Stars as terrorism financing is currently developing in Russia. — tg_tvrain
The letter was sent to Durov stating that the current system is a 'critical vulnerability' and that the group does not offer complete systemic solutions but urges Telegram to act. — mediazona