Telegram faces partial slowdown in Russia and potential multi-million ruble fines

Russia has begun slowing down the Telegram messaging application, with Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal communications regulator, set to implement partial restrictions from 10 February, following a wave of fines and administrative cases accusing the platform of hosting illegal content.

The Moscow Tagansky Court has registered eight administrative protocols against Telegram.

Seven relate to the platform’s failure to remove prohibited content, including what the court documents described as "extremist material" and explicit content. Another protocol concerns repeated failure to monitor and limit access to illegal content.

Each violation could incur a fine of 3-8 million Russian rubles, bringing the total potential penalties to 64 million rubles, around 830,000 USD.

Two protocols are scheduled for hearing on 11 February, with other cases set for February-March.

According to sources cited by RBC, Roskomnadzor also intends to gradually restrict Telegram’s functionality. “The work of Telegram has already begun to be limited,” one source said.

Users have complained of issues uploading media and sending messages, though VPN use appears to bypass these problems. Various error monitoring websites reported over 10,000 problem notifications from users across Russia in the past 24 hours.

Roskomnadzor previously restricted calls on Telegram and WhatsApp in August 2025, citing concerns that scammers and terrorists were using the apps to defraud or recruit Russian nationals.

• Russia limits Telegram and WhatsApp calls over security concerns

In October 2025, the regulator introduced partial limitations on the services “to combat criminal activity.”

Telegram was previously blocked in 2018 after the company refused to provide encryption keys to Russia’s FSB security service but was unblocked two years later.

Telegram, one of the world’s largest messaging platforms, claims around 950 million monthly active users, according to founder Pavel Durov.

It is used by a wide range of newsmakers, including the Kremlin, courts, media outlets, celebrities, and exiled opposition, to share information instantly with a large audience. The app is also widely used in Russia and Ukraine, and by pro-democracy groups in Iran and Hong Kong.

The platform offers optional end-to-end encryption, meaning messages can only be read on the sender’s and receiver’s devices, though this is not the default setting.

Last year, the Russian government launched a state-backed rival app called MAX, which critics say could be used for surveillance, though state media have dismissed these claims as false.

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