- Russia blocks the chat service Signal
Russia has also blocked the encrypted chat service Signal, citing alleged legal violations, as part of its actions against foreign internet services. Signal, according to the responsible agency Roskomnadzor in Moscow, is not complying with legal measures deemed necessary to combat terrorism and extremism.
Throughout the day, complaints from Signal users in Russia had accumulated that the messaging service was unavailable. Portals like Sboj.rf, which collect reports of outages, recorded around 2000 complaints. Signal was developed in the USA and is valued by its users for its high level of security.
YouTube also facing issues
On Thursday, users in Russia also complained that YouTube was working slowly and videos were difficult to download. Russian authorities did not provide an official explanation. However, they have previously targeted the extremely popular video service, accusing it of refusing to remove extremist videos.
Russia has already blocked large social networks with US ownership, such as X and Facebook, which can now only be accessed via protected connections (VPN). Even before the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow had made preparations for a possible internet shutdown in the country. Since the start of the war in 2022, Roskomnadzor has blocked thousands of websites that are not approved by the Russian power structure.
The European Union expressed concern over Russia's actions against foreign internet services, specifically mentioning the blocking of Signal and YouTube, as it believes these actions violate the principles of net neutrality and freedom of information. The European Union also urged its tech companies to help Russian users by providing VPN services as a workaround, as many popular international platforms are now inaccessible in Russia.
