Bloggers complain about the TGStat service for the ability to view posts they have deleted

The TGStat analytics service “contradicts the will of the authors” of Telegram channels, as it allows you to view posts deleted by them, according to the Association of Bloggers and Agencies (ABA). They consider the practice harmful to the market. TGStat emphasizes that the data is needed to monitor the fulfillment of advertising obligations, and at the request of channel administrators, copies are always deleted. Lawyers note that using content without the consent of the copyright holder is illegal, but TGStat, as the largest specialized service, can dictate terms to market participants. However, they are ready to accommodate clients “within the functionality of the service.”

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the ABA letter to the monitoring and analytics service for Telegram channels TGStat dated September 26. The association asks the service to disable the ability to view copies of posts deleted from Telegram channels by its administrators. ABA claims that channel administrators, in accordance with the terms of the TGStat user agreement, agree to the collection of data on published and duplicated posts, but not on deleted ones. Posting copies of deleted posts is “contrary to the will of the authors,” and statistics on them are of no value to them.

ABA confirmed to Kommersant that the letter had been sent. The head of the association’s project team, Timur Akhmedov, explained that in its current form, the ability to view data on deleted posts “is not entirely useful for the advertising market.” The service, according to him, could leave the option only for channel administrators: “Whoever wanted to know the statistics on their deleted posts registered the channel on the service and looked. And they decided to introduce it as publicly available.” Before sending the letter, ABA did not discuss the issue with TGStat, Mr. Akhmedov clarified.

TGStat received the letter and intends to help ABA “without disrupting the key functionality of the service,” its founder Yuri Kizhikin told Kommersant. According to him, most of the deleted posts are advertisements, which, as a rule, are posted for a certain period. TGStat allows you to ensure that posts are not edited or deleted earlier than expected: “A request to disrupt functionality from those who are well acquainted with the specifics of advertising placement seems unexpected.” Mr. Kizhikin added that the service has never refused administrators to delete copies of a post: “We understand that sometimes materials end up in Telegram channels that should not have ended up there.”

All services that work with Internet archives are governed by copyright regulations. In particular, the Internet Archive (managed by the Wayback Machine) allows site owners to completely exclude a resource from public search. Search engines also save copies of deleted web pages. However, they remain in the search results only until the search engine removes the link due to its inoperability.

There is no provision in the TGStat license agreement that the author allows the service to store and distribute a copy of the content indefinitely, says Ekaterina Abashina, lawyer for the Moscow CCA DBA and Partners: “The copyright holder has every right to control how and where its content is distributed. If he removed the content from the public domain and did not transfer the rights to use it under a license, he has the right to prohibit other persons from using it by virtue of Part 1 of Art. 1229 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.” She clarified that the use of content without the consent of the copyright holder is illegal, with the exception of cases of free use described by the Civil Code (for personal, information, scientific purposes, libraries and archives, etc.). “The statistics service, in my opinion, is not one of them,” Ms. Abashina emphasized.

Obviously, administrators do not like the ability to view deleted posts, adds Ekaterina Movsesyan, CEO of KROS JSC: “This narrows the space for manipulating content. Therefore, even if nothing changes this time, the negotiation process is likely to continue.” However, TGStat is actually the only market participant that provides comprehensive and high-quality analytics, she emphasizes: “All owners of Telegram channels and advertising customers use TGStat. This allows the service to conduct almost any negotiations from a position of strength.” ABA, “if it really wants to,” could create problems for TGStat, given its presence in Russian jurisdiction, argues Ivan Begtin, director of the Infoculture ANO. To do this, he said, it is necessary to “convincingly accuse the service of commercial use of content.”

Yuri Litvinenko