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Telegram Faces Potential Ban Amid Nationwide Outages in Russia

3/17/2026

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Summary

Story summary

On March 16, 2026, Telegram outages surged across Russia, with more than 18,000 complaints logged, according to Sboy.RF.
Oleg Matveychev, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, warned that Telegram could face "deportation" from Russia if it does not comply with local laws.
Users in Moscow and Saint Petersburg experienced severe difficulties with the app.
Experts noted that disruptions targeted Russian infrastructure, with Telegram's availability dropping to 80%.
The outages followed a nationwide test by Russian authorities to restrict access to Telegram and WhatsApp, signaling potential future bans.

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Story summary

On March 16, 2026, Telegram outages surged across Russia, with more than 18,000 complaints logged, according to Sboy.RF.
Oleg Matveychev, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, warned that Telegram could face "deportation" from Russia if it does not comply with local laws.
Users in Moscow and Saint Petersburg experienced severe difficulties with the app.
Experts noted that disruptions targeted Russian infrastructure, with Telegram's availability dropping to 80%.
The outages followed a nationwide test by Russian authorities to restrict access to Telegram and WhatsApp, signaling potential future bans.