Moscow Arbitration Court dismisses lawsuit against federal censor over cloud computing disruptions caused by Russia's Telegram ban

The Moscow Arbitration Court has dismissed a lawsuit against Russia’s federal censor and Finance Ministry claiming five million rubles (almost $75,000) in damages because of Roskomnadzor’s scattershot approach to banning IP addresses in its effort to block the instant messenger Telegram.

The company “Investor” says it was targeted by accident, leading to a service disruption and loss of business. In April, Roskomnadzor blocked millions of IP addresses operated by the cloud-computing providers Amazon, Google, and Digital Ocean, interrupting a wide array of Russian online businesses.

Is there no stopping Roskomnadzor?

Despite criticism from business groups saying that the federal censor is abusing its authority, Roskomnadzor hasn’t run into serious obstacles in its campaign against Telegram. The agency started unblocking some Google and Amazon subnets in May, apparently trying to reduce its collateral damage, but in early August the Supreme Court’s appellate bench sided with the FSB against Telegram, upholding the legal grounds for the censorship campaign.