Russia has stepped up its blocking of access to Telegram and other messaging apps
On Friday, April 3, the level of anomalies in Telegram traffic in the morning reached 80%, according to data from the international research project OONI. The figure rose by nearly 7 percentage points compared to the previous day.
This is reported by Russian media.
The percentage of anomalies by Friday morning was the highest since March 20—the day the authorities sharply intensified their blocking of Telegram. On Thursday, this figure stood at 75%, and on Wednesday—73%.
At the same time, the percentage of disruptions when accessing WhatsApp rose sharply—98% compared to 92% the day before. For Signal, the figure reached 92% compared to 89% the previous day.
Services that collect user complaints did not record a sharp spike in reports from Russians regarding Telegram’s performance. The two main resources—Downdetector and “Sboy.Rf”—received the highest number of complaints at 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. the previous day.
According to the study, the increase in anomalies occurred two days after the announcement by Baza, a Telegram channel close to security agencies, regarding a possible complete block of the messenger. An RBC source specified that the block was expected “in early April.”
The day before, Rostelecom President Mikhail Oseevsky reported that Telegram traffic on the T2 network had dropped to 50 MB per user over the past week, compared to 500 MB per user in February. However, market participants questioned this figure.
A source speaking to Kommersant noted that the drop in Telegram traffic in March was 17–18%. Denis Kuskov, CEO of the analytical agency TelecomDaily, estimated that traffic from Russian users may have decreased by 10–15% over the past few months. According to a source for Kommersant, the tenfold decline in Q2 cited by Osevsky is linked to users’ attempts to bypass the block.
The total number of post views on Russian Telegram channels had fallen by 17% by midweek, according to data from the Telemetr service analyzed by the Agency.
At the same time, the authorities are stepping up their fight against VPNs. It was reported yesterday that the Ministry of Digital Development has demanded that major platforms restrict access for users with VPNs enabled by March 15. The head of the ministry, Maksut Shadayev, announced this at a meeting with companies, including representatives from Sberbank, Yandex, VK, Wildberries & Russ, Ozon, Gazprom-Media, Avito, X5, 2GIS, ivi, Wink, HeadHunter, Lit, “Vsi Instrumenty.ru,” “Gismeteo,” “Rambler,” “Leman Pro,” “Tutu,” “Vkusvilla,” and “Stuzhki.”
Recently, the Penza city administration banned a protest against the blocking of Telegram, scheduled for March 29 in the local Hyde Park. Activist Ivan Finogeyev reported that officials justified the refusal by stating that an open rollerblading training session would be taking place at the same time.
Earlier, Mikhail Oseevsky, head of the Russian company Rostelecom, claimed there had been a sharp drop in traffic on the Telegram messenger.
As a reminder, Russianmilitary personnel have been banned from using Telegram for official purposes.
Recall whether it is possible to block Telegram in Ukraine and whether there is any point in doing so.
Telegram has also rolled out a major update with a range of new features for regular users and Premium subscribers.
