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| Cyber |
| Russia Orders Troops to stop using Telegram and Switch to Max - Unsuccessfully |
| 2026-03-23 |
| [Kyiv Post] A Kremlin campaign to shut down public use of Telegram – an enormously popular messaging app nearly impervious to state oversight – hit major cities across western Russia and central Siberia on Monday. Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that thousands of users saw massive outages, malfunctions, and critical slowdowns of the app. In February, Russian authorities declared Telegram – by far Russia’s most-used communications app, with a reported one billion monthly users – a threat to national security. Telegram’s leadership was refusing to turn over encryption protocols which would allow law enforcement to read all traffic and identify users by individual phone number to the Russian state. Those users still able to access the app on Monday reported that video and photo content could only be uploaded slowly. Worst hit, according to Telegram tracking data, were Russia’s two largest cities: the capital, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, where Russian President Vladimir Putin grew up. |
| Posted by:Clem+Elmish4239 |