Minsk government launches chatbot for political denunciations

December 10, Pozirk. The Minsk city government has launched a Telegram chatbot to collect political denunciations.

The Minsk City Executive Committee and the Minsk Novosti news outlet are encouraging residents to submit anonymous reports about “problem issues in the ideological sphere.”

“If you see state symbols in unsatisfactory condition, fake or distorted historical facts or witness the distribution of destructive materials etc., report it to us,” the city government said in a statement.

Users are urged to use the chatbot, titled “Ideological Inspection,” to describe the issue and attach photos or videos. Authorities say the initiative is aimed at improving Minsk’s “ideological environment.”

Belarusian security services have relied on denunciations since 2020 to persecute dissidents. Pro-Russian activist Volha Bondarava is notorious for such reports, which forced the closure of the Kaladnaja Krama Christmas shop and prompted Taćciana Krapinievič, a teacher from Lachavičy in the Brest region, to flee to the European Union with her 15-year-old daughter.

The Committee for State Security (KGB) reportedly received around 40,000 denunciations in recent years, before its website was hacked by the Cyber Partisans in April 2024.

The hackers published some of the leaked reports, which had been submitted not only from Belarus but also from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Spain.

Officials use the term “destructive materials” to describe information critical of the government.