On February 10, 2026, Russia entered a new phase of pressure on Telegram. Roskomnadzor announced "throttling" — artificial slowing of the messenger's performance, accompanied by a fine of 64 million rubles. The official reason is the platform's refusal to remove "terrorist and criminal content," as well as allegedly weak personal data protection and lack of anti-fraud measures.
Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, called this an attempt to force users to switch to state analogs designed for mass surveillance and political censorship. The irony is that one such alternative is Max — a messenger developed by VKontakte, which Durov himself once founded but left after Kremlin demands to hand over Ukrainian user data.
But behind this local conflict lies a much more massive transformation — the global restructuring of digital infrastructure, where independent platforms like Telegram become "inconvenient."
GLOBAL DIGITAL COMPACT: NEW ARCHITECTURE OF CONTROL
On September 22, 2024, at the Summit of the Future in New York, 193 UN member states signed the Global Digital Compact (GDC). Positioned as a step toward "digital equality," the document actually lays the foundation for a unified internet governance system where states and large corporations play a key role.
Russia officially abstained from signing, criticizing the GDC for:
- Ignoring the interests of developing countries
- Dominance of Big Tech
- Lack of legal binding force
- Duplication of existing initiatives
However, in practice, Russia follows the same course: implementing digital identification (ESIA), accelerating the launch of the digital ruble, and now promoting the national messenger Max.
This is no coincidence. Behind the GDC is years of work promoting Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) — a concept developed by the World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the governments of the UK and France. DPI is based on three pillars:
- Digital Identification (Digital ID)
- Instant Payments
- Digital Government Services
These models have already been implemented in India (Aadhaar), Brazil (Pix + Gov.br), and other countries. Russia is actively building its own version of this system.
DIGITAL PROFILE: ID + MESSENGER + CBDC
When these three components are combined, a complete digital citizen profile emerges:
- The state knows who you are (via Digital ID)
- Sees who you communicate with (via national messenger)
- Controls how and what you spend money on (via central bank digital currency — CBDC)
This is exactly the system promoted by the GDC under the guise of "digital inclusion." Platforms with end-to-end encryption, decentralized architecture, and independent moderation — like Telegram — disrupt this transparency model.
TRUMP VS DIGITAL DOLLAR: AN ALTERNATIVE PATH?
While Russia and China accelerate the implementation of CBDCs, the US has taken a different approach. On January 23, 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting the Federal Reserve from developing a digital dollar. The document explicitly states that CBDC threatens:
- Financial privacy
- Dollar sovereignty
- System stability
Trump also revoked Biden's pro-CBDC 2022 order and instructed the creation of a regulatory environment favorable to dollar-pegged stablecoins and blockchain technologies.
This is a fundamentally different approach: instead of centralized control — a decentralized but dollar-dominated ecosystem.
CONCLUSION: TELEGRAM IS MORE THAN A MESSENGER
The ban on Telegram in Russia is not just a fight against "terrorist content." It is part of a global trend: eliminating "gray zones" in the digital space. Independent platforms interfere with the formation of a total surveillance system based on the triad: ID + messenger + CBDC.
Even though Russia formally did not sign the GDC, it follows its logic. And the faster a national digital ecosystem is built, the less room remains for alternatives.
Telegram is still alive — thanks to VPNs, technical flexibility, and mass popularity (over 100 million users in Russia). But its fate is a mirror of the struggle between digital sovereignty and digital freedom.
And this battle is just beginning.
→ TO BE CONTINUED...
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— EPISODE 037 // Yellowstone End
#DigitalSovereignty #TelegramBan #CBDC #GlobalDigitalCompact #Surveillance
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