The authorities have strengthened the blocking of Telegram

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Roskomnadzor will begin to further restrict the work of the Telegram messenger, RBC reports , citing sources in the department. Measures to partially block access to Telegram began on February 10.

According to the Downdetector service, the number of complaints from Telegram users began to grow sharply. The main problems include messages not being sent, media not loading, notifications not receiving, and the mobile application crashing. Lockdowns have spread to regions across Russia.

Journalist Andrei Zakharov notes that Roskomnadzor began to restrict the work of Telegram in August, when the application actually turned off calls for users from Russia. Now we are talking about increasing the slowdown of the messenger, which could lead to a complete blocking of Telegram.

In addition, TASS, citing the court, writes that seven protocols have been drawn up against Telegram for refusing to remove prohibited content. What content we are talking about is not specified.

RKN confirmed that it has begun to restrict access to Telegram. The department believes that Telegram does not comply with Russian legislation: personal data is not protected, there are no real measures to combat fraud. In addition, Telegram allegedly did not eliminate violations of Russian legislation in order to remove restrictions from them.

“We are absolutely open to working with any domestic and foreign Internet resources. But under one very simple condition: respect for Russia and its citizens, compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation,” Roskomnadzor said .

What do government representatives say?

The head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina, in response to a request to explain the blocking of Telegram, stated that “there have been no official comments on this topic yet.”

The State Duma also denies blocking Telegram. Thus, Deputy Chairman of the Information Policy Committee Alexander Yushchenko said that the issue of slowing down the messenger was not raised. At the same time, Yushchenko added that Roskomnadzor could start blocking if there are claims under the legislative framework.

At the same time, another State Duma deputy, Andrei Svintsov, said that the blocking of Telegram is due to the fact that the messenger allegedly does not fully comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, and also interacts with the RKN “through the lip.”

“It won’t work that way. If TG wants to be present and earn billions of dollars in Russia, we are not against it. There are all possibilities for this. But it is necessary to comply with Russian legislation,” Svintsov said.

What can you do now?

The Network Freedom Project writes that against the backdrop of new Telegram blockings, it makes sense for user:nits to prepare a backup connection method in advance. One of these options is proxy servers, through which you can bypass blocking.

Detailed instructions on how to install proxy servers can be found in the Network Freedoms channel.

Cybersecurity expert Timofey Dubrovskikh told DOXA that in case of blocking, you can install several VPN options, as well as different settings for bypassing blocking at the application level, such as the method described above in Telegram. For confidential conversations, he recommends Delta Chat , which became popular during the protests in Iran when authorities began shutting down the Internet.

What are the alternatives?

In 2025, Telegram was the first messenger in Russia to exceed the reach of 100 million users, surpassing WhatsApp in this parameter. Blocking of the messenger began after the “state messenger” MAX appeared in Russia, actively promoted by the authorities.

The Network Freedoms projecttalks about the Bitchat messenger, which was launched in 2022 by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey. It works without the Internet, requires no registration, and uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to communicate directly between devices.

As experts write, Dorsey’s messenger creates a special network without the Internet, which allows you to unite devices and send messages to each other via a special chain - thus, if you are not near the recipient, the message will reach through other users.

For now, Bitchat is at the development and testing stage, but it can already be used in trial mode.

Another alternative to Telegram could be the American messenger imo, which in December 2025 came in fifth place in popularity in Russia. imo's audience reached 9.82 million people in December. The service allows you to make audio and video calls, as well as exchange messages.

At the same time, back in 2017, imo was added to the list of sites banned in Russia because the owner of the resource did not provide information for inclusion in the register of organizers of information dissemination (ORI). RBC writes that the likelihood of imo being blocked is quite high if the messenger starts downloading and the user becomes more and more human.