Over the weekend, users across southern Russia started reporting massive outages on WhatsApp and Telegram. Messages wouldn’t send, media failed to load and both apps only worked reliably through VPN.
Roskomnadzor later confirmed it had “partially restricted” the messengers, claiming the move was “to fight criminals.” The agency said these “foreign services” are being used for fraud, extortion, and even “terrorist activity.”
Roskomnadzor is Russia’s internet censorship agency — the government body that blocks websites, silences media and monitors what people do and say online.
It’s a familiar story. The same justification has been used for years to tighten state control over the Russian internet. Thousands of websites are already blocked, independent media are censored and online speech is constantly monitored in the name of “security.”
With Telegram and WhatsApp blocked across southern Russia, it’s clear this isn’t about fighting criminals. It’s about controlling what people say and silencing those who refuse to stay quiet.