TELEGRAM FOUNDER SAYS RUSSIA LABELED HIM TERRORIST FOR RESISTING ‘MASS SURVEILLANCE, CENSORSHIP’

Sun 02 August 2026:

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said Thursday that Russia’s decision to add him to its terrorists list was in retaliation for his refusal to comply with “government demands for mass surveillance and censorship on the messaging platform.”

“Russia has recognized me as a ‘terrorist’ for refusing to comply with its demands for mass surveillance and censorship in Telegram,” Durov wrote on Telegram.

“Under Russian law, I am now prohibited from ‘disseminating information on the internet.’ Russian officials have apparently become confused about who can prohibit whom from using the internet,” he added.

Earlier Thursday, Russia’s financial monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring, added Durov to its register of terrorists and extremists after authorities charged him with aiding terror activities and launched procedures to place him on an international wanted list.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused Telegram of failing to remove channels, chats and bots allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence services and extremist organizations to coordinate attacks and other crimes inside Russia.

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Russia has blocked major global social media and communication platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube, alongside targeting tools like Telegram. These restrictions form part of a state policy to enforce digital sovereignty and expand control over online information.

Russian authorities have escalated their internet censorship efforts over the past month, Human Rights Watch said, “State control over internet infrastructure has long been the top priority for the Russian government,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The recent escalation of internet censorship raises serious concerns over the ability of people in Russia to access an open and free internet.”

In August 2025, the authorities announced that they were blocking calls using Telegram and WhatsApp as a crime prevention move, claiming it was necessary to counteract scam calls and prevent the “involvement of Russians in sabotage and terrorist actions.” In 2018, Roskomnadzor obtained a court ruling to block Telegram based on a 2016 law requiring internet companies to hand over encryption keys to the government but later lifted the formal ban after unsuccessful attempts to block it. Roskomnadzor said that the Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, had agreed to cooperate with the government on combating terrorism and extremism.

Durov, who is facing “aiding terrorist activities” criminal charges in Russia, said that the current effort by Russian authorities to block Telegram is “an attempt to force citizens to switch to a state-controlled app built for surveillance and political censorship.”

The platform MAX was created in March 2025 by VK, also known as Vkontakte, which is owned and controlled by companies and individuals with close ties to the Russian government. In July, the government appointed MAX, a “national multifunctional messenger,” which is a government program to create a platform integrating messenger functions with state services. The app includes features such as messaging, calls, and access to state services and digital documents. MAX can be used as an age verification tool on a digital marketplace.

In September, the government said that MAX should be preinstalled on all smartphones and tablets sold in Russia. The authorities and VK carried out a broad campaign to increase the number of MAX users, including via promotion by celebrities. Communications from schools and universities were mandatorily moved to MAX, and the government also coerced housing associations and maintenance services to switch to the app, including by threatening them with hefty fines. Russian users also reported being locked out of Gosuslugi, the digital state services portal, unless MAX is installed.

By February 2026, MAX had reached 77.5 million monthly users in Russia, compared with 95.7 million Telegram users and 80.3 million WhatsApp users. Telegram and WhatsApp had lost 280,000 and 9 million users, respectively, between January and February.

Both internet users and internet censorship experts have expressed concerns over the vast amounts of data collected by MAX, as well as overly the broad range of permissions requested by the app. In March, experts said that the app sent repeated requests from the device to WhatsApp and Telegram domains and has potentially checked whether the user’s device is connected to a VPN. MAX denied all allegations.

The Russian authorities continue to increase their technical capacities to achieve tighter information controls, Human Rights Watch said.

The European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and other states and intergovernmental organizations should support groups working to protect access to information in Russia, including VPN developers working to secure rights-respecting VPN services.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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