Characterizing and Detecting Propaganda-Spreading Accounts on Telegram

Klim Kireev, EPFL, Yevhen Mykhno, Carmela Troncoso, EPFL, Rebekah Overdorf, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Research Center Trustworthy Data Science, Security in University Alliance Ruhr

34th USENIX Security Symposium · Day 1

This distinguished paper from USENIX Security 2025, titled "Characterizing and Detecting Propaganda-Spreading Accounts on Telegram," addresses the critical and evolving cybersecurity threat of information-based attacks, specifically propaganda, on instant messaging platforms. Given that much security research has historically focused on traditional social media like X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, the unique architecture and moderation challenges of platforms such as Telegram have often been overlooked. The authors, Klim Kireev, Yevhen Mykhno, Carmela Troncoso, and Rebekah Overdorf, present a comprehensive study that not only characterizes the behavior of propaganda accounts on Telegram but also introduces a novel and highly effective detection mechanism.

AI review

Solid measurement study with a genuinely useful detection contribution. The trigger-propaganda embedding approach is clever—exploiting the semantic mismatch between legitimate messages and generic propaganda replies is a novel angle that actually works. 97% detection beating human moderators by 11 points is the kind of result that matters.