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Agence France-Presse

A fresh-faced 22-year-old blogger is using nothing more than his keyboard to run the main communications hub for Belarus protesters as they mount an unprecedented challenge to the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko, often dubbed Europe’s last dictator.
Stepan Svetlov is the founder of NEXTA Live, a Telegram channel with 2.1 million subscribers that helps mobilise protesters and shares photo and video content from the demonstrations.
What is Telegram, why was it so popular during the Hong Kong protests?
“It started out as a school project,” Svetlov said in the Polish capital Warsaw, where he has been living in exile under police protection after having received death threats.
Svetlov originally set up NEXTA Live in 2015 as a YouTube channel for sharing funny, satirical music videos about Belarus and President Lukashenko, who has ruled with a heavy hand since 1994.

NEXTA, which means “somebody” in Belarusian, began putting out weekly video news videos in 2017 that got tens of thousands of views.
The switch to Telegram – a messaging app used by protest movements worldwide because of its strong encryption and anonymity – came in 2018 when police raided Svetlov’s house in Belarus.
“It was the first sign that the authorities appreciated my work. Like a mark of respect,” said a self-assured Svetlov, whose father is a journalist at the Belarusian channel Belsat, also based in and backed by Poland.
NEXTA and other Telegram channels play a very important role in bringing people together
Stepan Svetlov
The charge of organising mass unrest, for which NEXTA is now being investigated in Belarus, carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
“Of course it’s not true. We want exclusively peaceful protests … It was the authorities that started beating, shooting, using water cannons,” he said.

But Svetlov admits that NEXTA does have a role in coordinating the current protests since “nobody except us can do this since they would be immediately detained and arrested”.
“Even though we are 500 kilometres from the border, we do not stop being citizens of Belarus who want to have their own role, their own contribution in bringing about change,” he said.
“NEXTA and other Telegram channels play a very important role in bringing people together. People can see that they are not alone,” he said.

At the peak of the protests after the disputed August 9 election, Svetlov said NEXTA was receiving about 200 messages a minute.
The volume of information – some 100,000 messages a day – meant the team of four people working on NEXTA had to focus on photo and video content, which Svetlov said was easier to verify.
The channel uses other forms of verification such as asking for pictures of ID documents or using multiple unconnected sources but Svetlov said trusted, regular sources are the best.
Only a Telegram channel operating from abroad is able to coordinate the demonstrations
Valery Karbalevich, analyst
Valery Karbalevich, an analyst from Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, said NEXTA played a “crucial role” in the logistics of protests such as giving timings and meeting places.
“All the once popular bloggers in Belarus have been in prison for a while and only a Telegram channel operating from abroad is able to coordinate the demonstrations,” he said.
Independent analyst Vladimir Matskevich agrees, describing NEXTA Live as having “the most influence and largest audience” in relation to the ongoing wave of protests.


The channel is now planning a major expansion.
“We need at least eight people to deal with the amount of information we are receiving,” Svetlov said, outlining plans for a video editing studio and more content on events in Russia and Ukraine.
“We want to expand to a Russian-speaking audience more fully,” he said, pointing to surveys of the channel’s subscribers that showed 40 per cent of them were from countries outside Belarus – mainly in Russia and Ukraine.
As 100,000 marched in Minsk, Lukashenko armed himself
NEXTA is also looking for more funding sources.
Svetlov said that before the protests the channel was financed solely through ad revenue but this would not be enough for the expansion.
Asked for his prediction for the future of Belarus, he said he hoped his homeland would become “a normal democratic European country”.
“Protests will continue until the people win,” Svetlov said.


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The young Belarusian blogger mobilising protesters with Telegram app

Stepan Svetlov, founder of Telegram channel Nexta Live. Photo: AFP

People gesture during a protest at the Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020. Police in Belarus have dispersed protesters who gathered on the capital's central square, detaining dozens. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko gestures while addressing employees of the Orsha dairy plant in Orsha, Belarus, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. (Maxim Guchek/BelTA Pool Photo via AP)

Stepan Svetlov - founder of internet channel Nexta poses at the Belarusian House Foundation in Warsaw, August 27, 2020. - Stepan Svetlov is the founder of NEXTA, a Telegram channel with 2.1 million subscribers that helps mobilise protesters and shares photo and video content from the demonstrations. (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP)

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epaselect epa08596593 Riot police pass by two crying women during a protest the day after the presidential election, in Minsk, Belarus, 10 August 2020. Long-time President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko won the elections by a landslide with 80 percent of the votes. The opposition does not recognize the results and has questioned the transparency of the counting process. EPA-EFE/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, file photo Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaks to the media at a polling station after voting during the presidential election in Minsk, Belarus. Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko faces a perfect storm as he seeks a sixth term in the election held Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020 after 26 years in office. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, candidate for the presidential elections greets people waving old Belarus flags during a meeting to show her support , n Brest, 326 km (203,7 miles) southwest of Minsk, Belarus, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. The presidential election in Belarus is scheduled for Aug. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

TOPSHOT - A woman stands by a lamp post as riot police move along a street during a rally of opposition supporters, who accuse strongman Alexander Lukashenko of falsifying the polls in the presidential election, in Minsk on August 10, 2020. - Belarus police on August 10 used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up fresh protests challenging the result of a controversial weekend presidential election, witnesses and reports said. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)

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French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: dpa

epa08632529 Belarus women show heart signs during a peaceful protest rally against the results of the presidential elections, in Minsk, Belarus 28 August 2020. Opposition protests in Belarus continue against alleges poll-rigging and police violence at protests following election results claiming that president Lukashenko had won a landslide victory in the 09 August elections. EPA-EFE/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

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epaselect epa08627574 Police block an entrance of a church, where protesters hide during a protest rally against the results of the presidential elections, in Minsk, Belarus, 26 August 2020. Opposition in Belarus alleges poll-rigging and police violence at protests following election results claiming that president Lukashenko had won a landslide victory in the 09 August elections. EPA-EFE/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

Belarusian opposition supporters gather at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020. Protests demanding the resignation of Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko have entered their 18th straight day on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

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epa08620818 People attend a protest march against the results of the presidential elections, in Minsk, Belarus, 23 August 2020. Opposition in Belarus alleges poll-rigging and police violence at protests following election results claiming that president Lukashenko had won a landslide victory in the 09 August elections. EPA-EFE/STR

This grab taken from a video released by Belarus state agency "Belta" shows President Alexander Lukashenko holding an automatic rifle and wearing body armour as he arrives, on August 23, 2020, at his residence in Minsk, not far from where opposition protests are taking place. - Tens of thousands of demonstrators massed in central Minsk on Sunday to demand the resignation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who flew over the scene of the banned protest in a helicopter and called the marchers "rats". (Photo by - / BELTA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / BELTA " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

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Stepan Svetlov is the founder of Telegram channel NEXTA Live, which has 2.1 million subscribers
It originally began as a satirical YouTube channel, but Svetlov moved to the encrypted app after police raided his house



Stepan Svetlov is the founder of NEXTA Live, a Telegram channel that shares photo and video content from the demonstrations.


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The young Belarusian blogger mobilising protesters with Telegram app

Stepan Svetlov is the founder of Telegram channel NEXTA Live, which has 2.1 million subscribers It originally began as a satirical YouTube channel, but Svetlov moved to the encrypted app after police raided his house

Stepan Svetlov is the founder of Telegram channel NEXTA Live, which has 2.1 million subscribers

It originally began as a satirical YouTube channel, but Svetlov moved to the encrypted app after police raided his house