Russia was expected to block Telegram in April. It appears to have done it two weeks early.
For weeks, Russians have been bracing for a nationwide block of Telegram, the country’s most widely used messaging app, expected in early April. Reports of such plans first surfaced in late February, when RBC cited sources close to the Kremlin following a series of disruptions earlier that month. Now, however, it appears the authorities have moved ahead of schedule. Over the weekend of March 14–15, users in multiple regions reported major outages, with many unable to use the messenger at all. Here’s what we know so far.
