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Russian authorities have decided to start restricting the operation of the Telegram messenger, reports RBC, citing a source in the IT industry and two sources in the relevant government agencies.
According to two of the sources, Roskomnadzor plans to begin slowing down the messenger on 10 February. Another source says that access to Telegram is already being restricted.
Media outlets report that users in Russia are complaining about problems with loading media files in the messenger. These issues do not occur when using a VPN.
This summer, Roskomnadzor restricted calls within the messenger. The agency claimed this was done to protect Russians from fraudsters and from “involvement in sabotage and terrorist activities.”
16:00 Roskomnadzor has confirmed that Telegram is being blocked. Representatives of the agency told RBC that there are step-by-step restrictions in place for services that “systematically ignore Russian law.”
“In this regard, by decision of the authorised bodies, Roskomnadzor will continue to introduce step-by-step restrictions to ensure compliance with Russian legislation and protect citizens,” Roskomnadzor clarified.
- In 2018, Russian authorities decided to block Telegram after it refused to hand over encryption keys for messages to the FSB. After two years, the messenger was unblocked.