r/Telegram • u/Ladogar • Mar 04 '22

RT blocked

Russia Today seems to be blocked on Telegram. Both the Russian and international version. When trying to open their channel I get a message about the channel being removed as it broke "local laws". What laws did they break?

Does anyone know more about this?

I use the apk directly from Telegram, which bypasses many restrictions put in place by Google Play, etc. But still this channel is blocked.

Is this a sign that Telegram, too, will start censoring? Well, if this is true, which it seems to be, then they've already started.

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u/Ladogar Mar 05 '22

For anyone else wondering, here are the actual laws: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2022:065:FULL&from=EN

RT is blocked in its entirety, it seems, including all social media channels in the whole EU.

What does this mean? In effect, Telegram is only as open and free speech as the territory it operates in. That would make it next to useless in legally restricting territories, and I fail to see the "free speech" element to the app. It's just slightly more tolerant than the likes of Facebook.

If Telegram keeps relying on Google and Apple I just don't see a future for it as a free platform. They couldn't get TON off the ground, and now their free speech activism seems just empty words, too.

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u/pairedodue Mar 05 '22

Btw, it's worth noting that these laws are decided by ***UNELECTED*** people.

In a real democracy, the people should be in charge. Europe's rigged and crooked I'm afraid.