February 10, 2026
Russia's state censorship organ restricts Telegram messaging app nationwide, user complaints surge
Russia’s media censorship and communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, will begin implementing plans to slow the Telegram messaging app in Russia as early as Feb
TL;DR
- Roskomnadzor is implementing plans to slow down the Telegram messaging app in Russia.
- The agency cited inadequate user data protection and the platform's alleged use in criminal and terrorist activity as reasons for the restriction.
- Measures to slow Telegram are reportedly already underway.
- A widespread outage affecting Telegram was reported in Russia on February 9th, with users experiencing issues loading media and sending messages.
- This follows earlier reports of Roskomnadzor partially blocking Telegram and its voice calls.
- The Russian authorities are also reportedly using the National Domain Name System to block the YouTube video platform.
- Telegram founder Pavel Durov condemned the restrictions, stating that Telegram stands for freedom of speech and privacy.
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