Is it Okay to lie sometimes? A debate with my friends

I have a chat group with my four close friends, and the topic of lying came up recently. The debate was triggered by a video featuring a young Russian official saying something about controlling or not controlling mainstream tech services, like YouTube or one of the big messaging systems. My friend commented, “So young and already such a liar. Where did you learn?” I contradicted — what if the guy in the video truly believed in what he was saying? We didn’t argue but proceeded to discuss the topic of lying more generally. My friend said, “If you lie to someone…