“Today, it became known that the Telegram messenger, at the request of Roskomnadzor, has removed the five largest penetrating bots: Eye of God, Smart Search Bot, Archangel, Mail Search Bot, and How To Find Bot (only its English version, Russian  – works). Probably, this list will be continued since the claims of Roskomnadzor referred to a larger number, ” Oganesyan said.

He noted that the blocking is more of a formality than it has any consequences for the bots’ owner. For example, Hovhannisyan cited the case of blocking the “Eyes of God,” when less than an hour later, it was launched at a new address.

“If Telegram’s position on the blocking issue remains formal, the bot operators will continue to raise them under new names simply because it takes much less time than it takes to prepare and sign the next Roskomnadzor requirement,” the expert says.

He pointed out that while the most effective method is to disconnect the bot from payment systems, they have also learned to cope with this by creating wallets using “streaming” methods.

According to an information security analyst, Telegram has several dozen bots. “Of course, these bots are not as dangerous as services for obtaining information about bank accounts or using mobile communications, but they also allow you to illegally obtain personal data (for example, information about the owner of a phone or car) that criminals can use, ” says an expert.