“Novaya Gazeta Europe”: Russian independent telegram channels suffered less from blocking than pro-government channels

The average number of views of posts in Russian independent telegram channels against the background of Roskomnadzor blocking decreased by 10%, the data department of Novaya Gazeta Europe calculated.

Journalists analyzed posts in Telegram for March 16 - on that day, another failure occurred in the messenger, and Kommersant, citing IT experts, reported that the blocking of Telegram, promised by April 1, had actually already begun. Analysts compared the reach of posts on March 16 with the average number of views in the same channels since February 2026.

Views of pro-government Telegram channels fell by 23%, and of regional ones by 25%.

Part of the slight drop in views of independent media can be explained by the fact that a significant part of their audience is located abroad and is not affected by blocking, the publication writes.

Novaya emphasizes that these are preliminary estimates, since little time has passed since the beginning of the strengthening of blocking.

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• On March 19, Russian Forbes reported , citing sources, that Roskomnadzor had stopped coping with blockages—the operators’ equipment was overloaded. Roskomnadzor said that the information about the lack of capacity for blocking in the network is not true.