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Russian Authorities Trial Restrictions on Telegram and WhatsApp Ahead of Proposed Messenger Ban
Early on July 1, Russian authorities conducted a nationwide trial to restrict access to Telegram and WhatsApp, laying the groundwork for a full ban after Russian leader Putin signed legislation authorizing a state-controlled “sovereign messenger”, as was reported on the same day.
At approximately 23:00 of June, 30, Moscow time, users across Russia reported simultaneous outages of Telegram and WhatsApp. According to the Downdetector nearly 12,000 reports for Telegram and 1,500 for WhatsApp was logged over a 24-hour period.
The largest number of outage reports originated from the Nizhny Novgorod region and the Republic of Tatarstan, underscoring the geographically targeted nature of the trial.
Analysts described the event as “a targeted shutdown of messengers, effectively a rehearsal for a complete blocking,” noting that competing platforms cannot suffer simultaneous failures and that services were instantly restored when accessed through VPN.
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This trial follows Putin’s June 24 enactment of a law to establish a state-controlled “sovereign messenger” to be built under FSB supervision. Russian Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said the forthcoming WeChat-like app will offer encrypted chats, document storage, payments and digital ID features under stringent security protocols .
Earlier, Russia’s parliament approved legislation on June 10 mandating the development of a national instant-messaging platform by 2026 to replace foreign apps like WhatsApp and Telegram for official and public use.
