49% of Russians still read Telegram channels despite blocking, Levada poll finds
Nearly half of Russians — 49 percent — continued to read Telegram channels even as the app was effectively blocked across the country, the Levada Center polling organization found. Twenty percent said they read Telegram channels daily or several times a day.
The poll was conducted between March 18 and 26, 2026, during the period when Telegram was almost entirely blocked in Russia.
An additional 14 percent of respondents said they read Telegram channels almost every day, and 15 percent said they did so at least once a week. Fifty-one percent said they read Telegram channels less frequently or not at all.
A year earlier, in March 2025, 25 percent of Levada respondents said they read Telegram channels daily or several times a day, another 14 percent said they did so almost every day, and another 14 percent at least once a week — a combined 53 percent.
72 percent of respondents said they read news online, including 31 percent who did so daily and 20 percent each who did so almost every day or at least once a week. Levada said the figure had been rising throughout the entire observation period, peaking at 76 percent in March 2025. Over the past year, the share of Russians who read news online fell by four percentage points.
Television remained the primary source of news for most respondents, at 61 percent, a figure that has held essentially steady since spring 2023. Social media was named the main news source by 38 percent. The share of Russians who rely primarily on online publications fell over the past year from 30 percent to 27 percent; the share relying primarily on Telegram channels fell to 25 percent.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s internet regulator, announced a tightening of restrictions on Telegram in early February 2026. Russian media reported that Telegram would be fully blocked in Russia by April 1. That does not appear to have happened, but in practice the app has not worked for most Russian users without a VPN since mid-March.
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