Russia Imposes Restrictions on Telegram, Causing Slowdowns

Telegram users in Russia might start facing service interruptions on Tuesday as the country’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, is reportedly taking steps to throttle and limit access to the app. According to a statement from Roskomnadzor, translated via machine translation, the agency plans to “continue to introduce successive restrictions” on Telegram, alleging that the platform is not doing enough to combat fraud and criminal activities. Users in Moscow have confirmed experiencing issues, including one user named Anna, who expressed concern, saying, “It’s very bad because all my friends and family use Telegram. I don’t know how I’m going to communicate with them because I don’t want to move to other platforms.”

Back in August, Roskomnadzor began “partially” blocking calls on Telegram and WhatsApp, citing their use in extortion and “terrorist activities.” Around the same time, the Russian government mandated that phone and tablet manufacturers preinstall its state-supported Max messaging app on new devices sold in the region.

Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder and CEO, has yet to publicly address these issues. However, his last tweet on February 8th criticized leaders from several European countries, stating, “Officials with the lowest approval ratings in the world (Macron, Starmer, Merz, Sanchez) are the loudest champions of social media bans for teens and ‘misinformation’ crackdowns.” Durov was arrested in France in 2024 due to the platform’s moderation policies.