Roskomnadzor has commented on rumors of a complete block on Telegram starting April 1.
Roskomnadzor commented on the announcement that the Telegram messenger would be completely blocked in Russia starting April 1.
“The agency has nothing to add to the previously published information on this matter,” the Roskomnadzor press service reported.
The Telegram channel Baza previously published a post stating that Telegram would be completely blocked in Russia starting April 1.
According to the channel, starting this date, Roskomnadzor will begin a total blocking of the messenger, similar to Instagram and Facebook (owned by Meta, which is designated an extremist organization in Russia and banned). This measure will apply throughout Russia: the app will not load on either mobile networks or fixed internet systems, the channel clarifies.
In October, Roskomnadzor announced that it had begun partially restricting Telegram and WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which is designated an extremist organization in Russia and banned) to combat criminals.
On February 10, Roskomnadzor confirmed that it was introducing “sequential restrictions” to ensure the security of Russian citizens' data.
The regulator promised to continue the restrictions if the company does not locate its servers in Russia and “does not comply with Russian legislation.”
Telegram founder Pavel Durov responded by stating that the messenger would continue to uphold the principle of free speech and respect user privacy, “despite pressure.”
Telegram stated that it is actively combating malicious use of the platform, including fraud, calls for violence, and sabotage.
Telegram messenger sharply stepped up content moderation, blocking over 235,000 channels and groups in a single day on February 15. This figure was the highest daily figure since late January, according to the platform's internal statistics.
The previous peak occurred on January 23, when over 300,000 communities were removed. While the current figure is lower than that, it remains one of the highest in recent memory and confirms a trend toward tightening controls on the platform.
Since the beginning of February, Telegram has already restricted access to nearly 1.86 million groups and channels. Since the beginning of the year, the number of channels and groups removed has exceeded 7.25 million. Of these, over 27,000 were blocked for terrorism-related reasons, reflecting the priority of combating such content.
The company emphasizes that its moderation system has been in place since 2015 and combines user complaint processing with automated monitoring. Recently, Telegram has expanded its use of AI-powered tools, which has allowed it to speed up the detection of violations and significantly increase the scale of blocking.
