Telegram founder Pavel Durov urged “Russian brothers and sisters” to return to “digital resistance” in the face of Moscow’s attempts to ban the popular messaging program.
Durov’s call comes amid increasing reports of service outages in recent weeks from many parts of the huge country, which have intensified efforts to cut off access to the platform.
Durov says 65 million Russians still use Telegram daily
Millions of Russian citizens continue to communicate via the Telegram app despite pressure from their government to prevent them from doing so, the app owner has revealed.
Durov made this claim in response to the blocking of the messenger due to its non-compliance with Russian rules, and in particular due to the alleged failure to delete information prohibited by local law.
In a mail On Saturday, the tech entrepreneur said:
“Telegram has been blocked in Russia – yet 65 million Russians still use it daily via VPNs, with more than 50 million messages sent daily.”
He also stated that Russian authorities have been trying to block VPN (Virtual Private Network) services for years as well.
Durov also revealed that “their attempts at obstruction led to a major banking failure, with cash briefly becoming the only method of payment nationwide yesterday.”
He likened recent developments in Russia to Iran’s previous attempt to ban Telegram, and noted that “the government had hoped for mass adoption of its surveillance messaging apps, but got widespread adoption of VPNs instead.”
According to Pavel Durov, who was born in Russia but is now a French-Emirati citizen, millions of Russians are now joining millions of Iranians in opposing state censorship. He turned to them:
“Welcome back to the digital resistance, Russian brothers and sisters. The entire nation is now mobilized to bypass these ridiculous restrictions. Thousands are building VPNs and proxies.”
Durov, who is also CEO of the messaging service, pledged that Telegram would continue to adapt and make it harder for its traffic to be detected and blocked.
The Russian campaign on Telegram is entering a new phase
Russian regulators mainly accuse Telegram of failing to comply with the country’s requirements regarding… Moderation in content.
The Messenger was fined for such violations, most recently in March, before a court in Moscow imposed A heavy financial penalty for not deleting a post that allegedly calls for extremism.
Voice calls through the platform were already limited in August last year, when authorities said the app had become a popular tool for scammers and cybercriminals.
Russia’s communications and media watchdog, Roskomnadzor (RKN), began slowing down traffic to Telegram in early February.
At that time, Durov accused Moscow is trying to “force its citizens to switch to a state-controlled app designed for political surveillance and censorship.”
The app he was apparently referring to is called Max. The government-backed alternative, described as a “national messenger”, has grown its daily audience to 70 million. According to To the state media.
Telegram became the most popular messaging app in Russia last January, when it was launched I exceeded actually Forbidden WhatsApp application reaches more than 95 million users.
Baza Telegram channel to publish In mid-February, the complete blockage of the messaging service will begin in early April. Sources cited by RBC later confirmed the time frame.
Meanwhile, it was reported that local authorities in a number of Russian regions and cities Thwarting the protests In defense of Telegram.
Pavel Durov’s private messenger is widely used not only by ordinary Russian citizens and companies, but also by many officials and organizations.
Amid a growing number of reports of issues with the mobile app and desktop version on platforms like Detector404.ru and Crash.rfthe country’s cryptocurrency community was Struggling To find an alternative.
Government representatives have previously indicated that Telegram may continue to operate in the Russian Federation if it complies with its legislation.
Russia first tried to block the messenger in 2018, but failed, when it refused to provide law enforcement with encryption keys and access to user communications. This ban was eventually lifted two years later.
