According to documented examples, the platform altered the texts of posts on ‘Sputnik’ channels after they were published in different languages, leading to translations carrying anti-Russian messages or completely distorting facts. Among the observed cases: President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India on ‘Sputnik Ethiopia’ channel. The original text was ‘New Delhi atmosphere ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s visit.’ However, Telegram’s translation provided a sharp political phrase describing Putin as ‘waging an aggressive war.’ When translated from Amharic to English, the application also distorted the meaning to become ‘Putin’s current war is a new level of aggression.’ In another case on ‘Sputnik Iran’ channel, the application removed the name Vladimir Zelensky from the text and replaced it with other unrelated names. The original text ‘Even the cat left the building when Zelensky entered the British Prime Minister’s office’ was changed to ‘Even Graham left Downing Street immediately after meeting Johnson.’ These examples raised widespread questions among users about the nature of the glitch, especially with the repeated appearance of results with a sensitive political nature. The ‘Sputnik’ agency contacted the Russian communications watchdog (Roskomnadzor) for comment. It is noted that since the beginning of 2025, Telegram has excluded ‘Sputnik’ channels from the list of similar recommended channels for users when viewing media channels.
