There has been rare public resistance to the push to throttle Telegram, Russia's most popular messaging app, with even some pro-Kremlin hawks fearing it could backfire.
By Yuliya Talmazan
The Kremlin’s tightening grip on Russian life has a new target: the country’s most popular messaging app.
Ordinary Russians and even pro-Kremlin hawks have offered rare public pushback against the campaign to throttle Telegram, warning it could backfire, not just at home but for Russia’s military in Ukraine.
The app is woven into the daily existence of those who support and oppose the government alike. But the Kremlin is instead pushing people to its new “national” messenger MAX, which many fear could be used to surveil them as part of a deepening crackdown on freedoms since the invasion of Ukraine. Those fears have been amplified by a wave of mobile internet outages, including recent disruptions in Moscow, which authorities have justified as necessary for security.
For months, Russians have complained that Telegram was working slower and more sporadically, and this week users began reporting a major slowdown.
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