Global Telegram Outages Hit as Russia Slows Access to Messaging App

Telegram users worldwide are experiencing widespread service disruptions as Russia deliberately slows access to the encrypted messaging platform, with initial reports suggesting the technical glitches may have escalated into a global outage affecting millions of users across multiple continents.

Telegram is temporarily down in various regions

Signals about problems with access to Telegram platforms and features have been coming in in the past couple of days.

These have been submitted from different locations, including in Europe and America, according to data compiled by websites like Downdetector.

Issues were registered in a number of regions in Russia, where regulators have been deliberately limiting traffic to the messenger since early February, but also in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

Complaints have been filed by users in the United States, the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway, among other nations.

Around 10,000 reports have been received by the Detector404 portal in the last 24 hours, as of the time of writing. They peaked both on Wednesday and earlier on Thursday, but have since decreased.

Most of them are related to loss of connection, slow loading of media files, and inability to send or receive text messages, the Russian edition of Forbes and the business news outlet RBC summed up.

Difficulties when using Telegram’s mobile app were mentioned in over 70% of the Downdetector signals, and challenges with messaging in particular accounted for 23%. Some users were unable to log in.

Once the number of complaints dropped significantly on Thursday afternoon, over two-thirds of the outage reports that continued to arrive came from the Russian Federation, as shown by the stats published by Detector404.

Telegram may face further restrictions in Russia

Russia’s telecom watchdog, Roskomnadzor (RKN), started slowing down Telegram last month and threatened to impose further restrictions if the messenger does not comply with its requirements, mainly regarding content moderation.

Also in February, the government agency, which acts as a media censor as well, removed the domain of WhatsApp from its DNS servers, effectively blocking access to Meta’s messaging platform. Voice calls through both applications had already been restricted in August 2025.

Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, alleged that Moscow was trying to force its citizens to “switch to a state-controlled app built for surveillance and political censorship.”

Reports in early March revealed that Telegram has overtaken WhatsApp as the most popular messenger in Russia this year. As of January, it had over 95 million active users, compared to less than 90 million for its competitor.

Telegram may not enjoy its leading status for too long, however. According to the Telegram channel Baza, the RKN intends to start terminating access to the messenger in April. The regulator did not deny media reports based on that post.

Meanwhile, the user base of the government-approved Russian alternative, which Durov was most likely referring to, has been growing.

The “national messenger” called Max, which Moscow is actively pushing, now has more than 100 million users, with an average daily audience of 70 million, state media unveiled this week, quoting its press service.

On Thursday, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that to avoid being blocked in the country, Telegram needs to comply with Russian law, “be flexible” in its contacts with authorities, and find solutions to the outstanding problems.

According to an earlier statement by Russian Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev, Telegram’s administrators failed to act on approximately 150,000 requests to remove content considered illegal in Russia.

Pavel Durov has previously insisted that his team will continue to uphold freedom of speech and protect the personal information of its users.

One of Moscow’s requirements for online platforms with more than 500,000 daily users is to open a Russian office and store user data locally, which Telegram is unlikely to do.

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