--- title: 'Is a Full Telegram Block Inevitable? How to Restore Access Without Slowdowns' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ws0HBznHd-Y' video_id: 'Ws0HBznHd-Y' date: 2026-07-27 duration_sec: 838 --- # Is a Full Telegram Block Inevitable? How to Restore Access Without Slowdowns > Source: [Is a Full Telegram Block Inevitable? How to Restore Access Without Slowdowns](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ws0HBznHd-Y) ## Summary The video discusses the history of Telegram blocking in Russia and Kazakhstan, from the 2018 attempt to the gradual restrictions in 2025-2026. It analyzes the impact of Pavel Durov's arrest and speculates on the possibility of a full block, while noting that Telegram has tools to bypass restrictions. ### Key Points - **Current slowdown in Kazakhstan** [00:02] — Kazakhstan confirmed slowing Telegram on February 10, 2026, causing problems with messages and calls. - **2018 blocking attempt in Russia** [01:07] — Roskomnadzor started blocking Telegram on April 16, 2018, after Durov refused to hand over encryption keys. Over 18 million IP addresses were blocked, but Telegram continued operating. - **Blocking backfired** [02:11] — Durov stated that the blocking doubled Telegram's Russian audience from 15 to 30 million users during the two-year period. - **2018 block lifted informally** [02:52] — On June 18, 2020, Roskomnadzor announced lifting restrictions, and later even created an official Telegram channel. - **Durov's arrest in France** [03:05] — Pavel Durov was detained in August 2024 on 12 charges including complicity in crimes via Telegram. Released on bail of 5 million euros, banned from leaving France. - **Moderation changes after arrest** [04:08] — Durov announced Telegram would provide IP addresses and phone numbers of violators globally, though claimed it was ongoing since 2018. - **2025 partial blocks** [04:33] — In March 2025, Roskomnadzor blocked Telegram in Chechnya and Dagestan. By August 2025, calls to Telegram and WhatsApp were blocked nationwide. - **User adaptation** [05:38] — After call blocking, mobile network load increased by 9% (up to 25% in some regions), indicating users shifted to landline calls. - **Gradual slowdowns continue** [06:51] — By December 2025, users complained of slowdowns, but Roskomnadzor denied new restrictions. Officials hinted blocking is tied to migration of channels to Messenger Max. - **Risk of permanent block** [08:55] — The creator speculates full blocking is possible but not immediate, with white lists excluding Telegram from allowed services. - **No viable alternative** [09:50] — Alternatives like Max are not ready; Telegram's audience and features are far ahead. - **Streisand effect** [10:59] — Blocking may boost Telegram's popularity as people become more interested. - **Built-in bypass tool** [12:36] — Telegram has a built-in tool to set up uninterrupted access, bypassing restrictions. ### Conclusion While gradual restrictions are increasing, a full Telegram block is not certain and may backfire. Users can use built-in tools to bypass slowdowns, and the platform is likely to survive similar to 2018. ## Transcript sometimes blocked in the fall, sometimes never blocked. On February 10, 2026, the Republic of Kazakhstan confirmed that it had indeed begun slowing down the Telegram messenger, and users began complaining en masse about problems downloading various voice messages, and so on. This means that using the messenger has become, to put it mildly , uncomfortable. One way or another, the final, final blocking never news about a slowdown appears in the information field , on the other hand, deputies deny it, then, vice versa, and so we sit on an information swing. chronology of events. Moreover, let 's dive into history. Telegram has been blocked before, and the messenger has successfully dealt with it. So what will happen to Telegram this time, in 2026? Let's figure it out together. Plus each of you on Telegram has a whole life. Some have friends and family, some have work, and some, moreover , have their own projects that are successfully monetized. Well, or at least you're already on your way to it. Therefore, watch the video until the very end. The video will be extremely important for most of us, and we need to be prepared for any outcome. So, year eighteen, first attempt at blocking. On April 16, 2018, Roskomnadzor began blocking Telegram. And then Pavel Durov refused to hand over the encryption keys to the Russian Federal Security Service, which would allow access to Moscow's Tagansky Court ruled in favor of Roskomnadzor, and the agency began blocking IP addresses on Telegram. More than 18 million addresses were blocked in the first week , but Telegram continued to operate. Messenger began using Amazon and Google servers to bypass blocking, but Roskomnadzor began blocking them as well. As a result, other services that had nothing to do with Telegram were also affected . For example, Viber or the Skyang platform. On April 30, 2018, a protest in support of Telegram took place in the center of Moscow . More than 12,000 people gathered and launched paper airplanes as a symbol of the messenger. Well, the result of the blocking turned out to be the opposite of what the authorities expected. In the first week, the messenger lost only 3% of its active audience. However, the number of channel views increased from 138 million to 159 million, and during the two years of blocking, Telegram's Russian audience didn't decrease, but grew from 15 to 30 million. Durov himself later wrote about this on his Telegram account, where he confirmed that Roskomnadzor's blocking had, on the contrary, contributed to a doubling of Telegram's audience. According to his data, as of hundred million Telegram users, at least 30 million were from Russia. He also said the block had not worked and called on the Digital Resistance movement to turn its attention to Iran and China, where the block was still active. On June 18, 2020, Roskomnadzor announced the lifting of Tagansky Court's decision to block the messenger was never overturned. Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov resigned from his post and blocked messenger. And in November of 2020, Roskomnadzor even created its own official channel on Telegram . Let's move on to the twenty-fourth year. Arrest of Pavel Durov in France. He was detained at Lebouget Airport near Paris. He flew in on a private jet from Azerbaijan, accompanied by his girlfriend Yulia Vavilova and bodyguards. French authorities have charged him with complicity in crimes committed by others via Telegram. Fraud, money laundering, distribution of drugs and child support. There are 12 charges in total . But the main thing is that Telegram ignored requests from all law enforcement agencies. According to the French gendarmerie, from 2013 to 2024, the messenger ignored 2,460 legal requests. On August 28, Durov was released on bail of 5 million report to French police twice a week. And , of course, a ban on leaving the borders of France. And this is important because the founder of the largest platform in history found himself, for the first time, the victim of the actions of its users. In March 25, a French court changed the conditions and allowed Pavel Durov to leave the country for several weeks. He can now travel to Dubai, where Telegram's offices are located and where his relatives live, but for no more than two weeks, after which he must return to France. The investigation is ongoing and the year. How do you think this story will end? Write your opinion in the comments. Following the arrest, Telegram strengthened its moderation. Durov announced that the messenger would provide IP addresses and phone numbers of violators worldwide. Although he later clarified that Telegram has been doing this since 2018. On March 8, 2025, Roskomnadzor began blocking Telegram again, but so far only in Chechnya and Dagestan. On July 3, 2025, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Sergei Boyarsky, stated that there were no grounds for blocking Telegram and WhatsApp in Russia. The issue is not raised, but only hyped up in the media to attract attention. On August 13, 2025, Roskomnadzor announced the blocking of calls to Telegram and WhatsApp throughout Russia. The official reason is the fight against the agency, instant messaging calls have become a tool for deception and extortion, as well as for recruitment and subsequent participation in Ministry of Digital Development supported the decision and added that access to calls will be restored once messengers comply with legal requirements. Like this , and scammers are doing just fine over the phone. According to Roskomnadzor, . And this was confirmed by T-Bank and Sberbank. However, mobile operators reported that in the first 24 hours after the new restrictions, network load increased by 9%, and in some individual regions the increase reached 25%. which means that people simply started making more landline calls. On October 20 and 21, massive disruptions in the operation of Telegram and WhatsApp began. Initially, problems were recorded spread throughout the country. Major telecom operators stated that their infrastructure was operating normally, as if hinting that the possible restrictions were merely artificial. On October 22, 2025, Roskomnadzor restriction on the operation of instant messengers in order to combat criminals. However, part of the internet traffic filtering system introduced under the law on the sovereign RuNet. On October 31, 2025, the media reported that codes from mobile operators stopped being sent to Russian users' phones when logging in or registering for Telegram and WhatsApp . Telegram and WhatsApp then responded by adding the ability to log in using codes December 1, 2025, Roskomnadzor announced the beginning of a phased blocking of the WhatsApp messenger. The entire messenger was slowed down by about 80%. not announce a complete block on Telegram. On December 4, 2025, Andrei Svintsov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, stated that , as the messenger actively interacts with December of 2025, users began to complain en masse about slowdowns and deterioration in loading speed when working in the application. At the same time, Roskomnadzor assured that there were no new restrictions on the messenger . On December 24, 2025, the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Sergei Boyarsky, said something interesting. Telegram will not be blocked in Russia until channels with proper coverage of the news agenda migrate to Messenger Max. That is, supposedly, blocking is only a matter of time and the final migration of known channels to another messenger. As we can see, restrictions are being introduced gradually, carefully, even, I would say, timidly. First, there are statements that there will be no blockages, then then another statement that everything will be fine, there are no new restrictions, then some sanctions gradually come again. Based on the experience of no plans to block Telegram yet . At least in immediately blocked the messenger. This is not happening now. Most likely , there are some more important interests on both sides of this conflict. And so, through gradual restrictions, great pressure is being exerted on the messenger and Pavel Durov himself. The organization likely wants Telegram to make certain concessions and actually in greater volume. In this case, we do n’t really know, but judging by what we observe, that’s exactly the impression that is created . Such a long prelude with swings in the information field serves only for such manipulation and messenger's representatives, on its management. Therefore, apparently, if they fail to achieve what they want, and what they need, frankly speaking, is the formulation, as interaction with the authorities, is quite abstract, and you perceives it differently. For some, just one piece of and so on. In any case, ultimately, there is a real risk that the messenger will be permanently blocked. But I really don’t want to believe this . Do you really think they can block it Well, these formulations have recently started to appear about so-called white lists. This is a list of services that will work if we have such a Runet. That is, among social networks - these are Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, the national messenger Max, and so on. There is no YouTube, there is no Instagram, it makes sense, there is no TikTok and there is no Telegram. Today, we see that an active slowdown, or blocking, as you wish, of the Telegram messenger has begun. And it is . That is, the load is terrible, calls have not worked for a long time, it is uncomfortable. That is, an atmosphere is being created in every possible way to search for some imply anything, but this looks like PR for another platform and another messenger. On the other hand, all these gradual restrictions, in my opinion, impact. It's honestly unclear how this will end, but if we follow common sense, then blocking Telegram would be a real shame for a number of reasons. no alternatives at the moment, and those that supposedly exist are still not ready. This must be understood. The audience is smaller, the platforms are raw and untested, the analytics are worse, and the In my opinion, it's impossible to catch up with Telegram at all, because Telegram has been developing and improving all these years, and you just have to completely stop its development in order to try to catch up, because it has gone very far with a big head start. Furthermore, since 1918 we remember what happened in terms of blocking. And then it was impossible to block the messenger, used technological tricks that helped to bypass this, among other things. Well, people also showed some activity and expressed their position. Plus there is a very interesting feature called the Barbara Strй effect. When something gets a lot of attention in the information field, and they likely, people's interest in Telegram will be much higher. And thus, the messenger will likely once again find growth among a new audience, perhaps even multiple, from the regions of the Russian Federation, and it will continue to exist. There users. And this whole story with blocking, especially with partial slowdowns, will only serve as an unplanned PR stunt for the cooperating, and this was stated by none other than the State Duma deputies themselves Telegram is making contact. And, as we know, this cannot be said about the WhatsApp messenger, so its fate has already been determined, and everything there is extremely clear. But there are still many questions here. Messenger makes contact but is slowed down. Again, the logic is clear that someone is clearly lacking this contact Durov is also in no hurry with any reciprocal steps and prompt and just the other day he limited himself to a statement that he is for freedom and has . And what is happening now in Russia is a violation of freedoms. However, Durov is not taking any such radical measures or concrete actions happening. Apparently, there is a tug of war going on , and sooner or later someone in this battle may lose. If we talk in general about the strategy of such eternal slowdowns, then I think watching this video on a platform which, as far as I know, has been slowed down for a long time. Moreover, many sit in the forbidden gram and attract an audience from there. Some people even manage to monetize it. I mean your services, and so on. It all works wonderfully. Therefore, when wonderfully. Therefore, when find, through experience, a solution to bypass them. What do you think about the blocking of Telegram? Are you for or against such radical measures? Write in the comments, let's discuss. As a result, the saying goes, if you're afraid of wolves, don't go into the forest . Telegram has a built-in tool that allows you to set up uninterrupted access to the messenger, avoiding any restrictions, difficulties, or slowdowns. Therefore, those who want it will in any case have access to this platform and all the resulting content. So, if you have any fears or doubts about introducing content on this platform, about promotion, monetization, and so on, I can tell you one thing: after every bad streak, there always comes a brighter one. The one who overcomes even the most who stayed in Telegram and overcame difficulties back in 2018 know this firsthand. I recommend you take this example as an example and continue to believe in this stable platform, unlike our officials, who . And that's all from me. The owner of the cart was with you. Bye everyone and see you again .