Telegram to introduce bot-proof polls: how the new voting system will work

Telegram is preparing an update that could make public polls significantly harder to manipulate.

Code spotted in the platform’s GitHub repository points to changes in how public polls function.

In a future release, channel admins will be able to restrict participation to users who have been subscribed for more than 24 hours. That effectively blocks drive-by voting and prevents non-subscribers from taking part, reducing the risk of inflated results.

In addition, poll creators will be able to limit participation by geography. If voting is restricted to specific countries, users from other regions will see a warning:

“Only users from selected countries can vote.”

There is no confirmed release date yet, but the feature is already in development