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Telegram was blocked in Russia for around 2 years for refusing to cooperate with FSB. That block wasn't effective despite breaking half the internet at times an

Telegram was blocked in Russia for around 2 years for refusing to cooperate with FSB. That block wasn't effective despite breaking half the internet at times and many people didn't even notice it, so eventually the government just gave up and unblocked it to save itself from being laughed at.

twelve40 5y ago
It is actually trivially cut off at the app store level (both apple and google), just like the free-speech-loving Germany is proposing right now (1), and the Russian government chose not to do that. The "telegram blocked" story is 2 years old, currently 52% of Russian Internet users rely on Telegram every day (2) All charges against Durov personally were dropped, and he is (admittedly) rumored to visit Spb now and then, but there is no official beef with him or any of his services currently. 1. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/politician-says-germany-should-ban-telegram-unless-it-tackles-extremist-content-2021-12-14/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/politician-says-germany... 2. https://www.vedomosti.ru/media/articles/2021/09/28/888523-auditoriya-telegram https://www.vedomosti.ru/media/articles/2021/09/28/888523-au...
- grishka 5y ago
  > It is actually trivially cut off at the app store level (both apple and google) Yes, this is why Pavel blocked the Navalny bot (providing a very nonsensical explanation for it). Apple's app store is why we can't have nice things. Google Play doesn't matter nearly as much because Android allows sideloading and Telegram already makes use of that. This page https://telegram.org/android https://telegram.org/android has a prominent apk download button and an "if you want a Google Play version instead we have that too, you weirdo" link at the bottom.