Russian media regulator limits Telegram functionality in continued crackdown on foreign apps

Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor has started limiting Telegram’s functionality, state-affiliated business news outlet RBC reported on Tuesday, citing sources in the tech industry and the Russian government.

The government sources said that some measures partially limiting Telegram functionality were due to take effect later on Tuesday, while the industry source said that the process had already begun.

Russian users of the app have been complaining of problems using Telegram for the last two days. According to data from Downdetector, a website which monitors internet interruptions, Russians began complaining that the app was down on Monday morning, though the rate at which complaints were being received had begun to decline by Monday evening. However, on Tuesday morning, Russians were once again reporting issues with Telegram functionality.

Residents of the Nenets autonomous district, in the Russian Arctic, and the Magadan and Sakhalin regions, in Russia’s Far East, appeared to be the worst affected, with users complaining of messages and media files taking a long time to load.

In October, Roskomnadzor confirmed its “partial blocking” of the WhatsApp and Telegram messaging services, alleging that both had become “the main services used to scam and extort money, and to get Russian citizens involved in sabotage and terrorist activities”, while noting that its owners had ignored Russia’s demands to “take measures against criminals”.

Those efforts came amid a broader campaign by the Kremlin against foreign-owned messaging platforms, as the authorities seek to promote MAX, a state-backed messenger and “super app”, which critics have warned could record user activity, which could then be made available to the authorities.