Telegram’s public channels and its refusals to hand over user data have made it a target: China and Iran have blocked it for years, Pakistan since 2023, and Russia made it almost unreachable in 2026.
Every day we open Telegram from inside 24 countries, mostly over home broadband, and record
where it’s blocked, since when and how.
3 of 24tested countries with a confirmed block of Telegram
Blocked in China, Iran and Russia. 24 of 24 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Blocked means the networks we test there failed to open telegram.org, twice, while it opened elsewhere.
“Turned away by the site” means Telegram itself refused visitors from that country.
* First observed on this date: the block may be older. Older results are excluded from current totals.
Background
Where Telegram is restricted, and why
Governments go after Telegram for its big public channels, which spread news, protest calls and leaks, and for refusing to hand over data. China blocked it in July 2015, a day after state media accused it of helping human rights lawyers attack the Communist Party. Iran, where it was the most used messaging app, blocked its calls as soon as they launched in April 2017, cut it off during protests that winter and banned it for good on 30 April 2018 as a threat to national security.
Russia blocked Telegram in April 2018, after it refused to give the FSB the keys to decrypt messages, and lifted the block in 2020. Roskomnadzor later blocked it in Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Stavropol from October 2024 to May 2025, began throttling it nationwide in August 2025 and announced wider restrictions in February 2026. By July 2026 Russians could reach Telegram only through a VPN, Reuters reported, though the Kremlin and the defence ministry still posted there daily.
Pakistan has blocked Telegram on most networks since December 2023, some providers blocking only the website and others the app as well. Vietnam’s technology ministry ordered providers to block it in May 2025, accusing it of not cooperating against crime and of failing to share user data in criminal investigations. India blocked it nationwide from 16 to 22 June 2026, after Telegram groups were reported to be selling leaked papers for the cancelled NEET medical entrance exam, and the Delhi High Court upheld the order.
Brazil’s courts have suspended Telegram too. A Supreme Court justice ordered it blocked in March 2022 for failing to cooperate with the authorities before that year’s election, and a federal judge did so in April 2023 when it didn’t hand over data on neo-Nazi users; both orders were lifted within three days. After its founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France in August 2024, Telegram said it would share users’ IP addresses and phone numbers with authorities that send valid legal requests.
Key dates
India blocks Telegram nationwide until 22 June over groups selling leaked NEET exam papers; the Delhi High Court upholds the order three days later.
Roskomnadzor announces wider restrictions on Telegram in Russia, accusing it of failing to fight fraud and to protect users’ data.
Vietnam’s technology ministry orders telecoms providers to block Telegram, accusing it of not cooperating against crime.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov is arrested in France, partly over the company’s refusal to share information with investigators.
Pakistan blocks Telegram on most networks, six years after an earlier block during protests in November 2017.
A prosecutor at Iran’s Media Court orders Telegram blocked as a threat to national security; it was then Iran’s most used messaging app.
Get past a block
Telegram blocked where you are?
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History
Changes for Telegram
No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.
Method
How we test
Test machines on the two biggest home-internet providers in most countries open the homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
Mostly over control of information and data. Its big public channels spread news and protest calls fast, as during Iran’s protests of late 2017, and it has refused some demands for data: Russia blocked it in 2018 when it wouldn’t give the FSB its encryption keys, and Vietnam said in 2025 that it hadn’t shared user data in criminal cases.
Is Telegram Banned in Vietnam?
Vietnam’s technology ministry ordered telecoms providers to block Telegram in May 2025, saying it hadn’t cooperated against crime, that groups on it sold users’ data or were involved in drug trafficking, and that it hadn’t shared user data in criminal investigations. Telegram said it was surprised and had answered Vietnam’s legal requests on time.
Is Telegram Blocked in Iran?
Iran banned Telegram on 30 April 2018, when a prosecutor at its Media Court ordered it blocked as a threat to national security. It had already been cut off for about two weeks during the protests of late 2017, and OONI, an internet censorship research project, reported in August 2025 that it was still blocked.
