Russian businesses aren't happy about getting swept up in the government's assault on Telegram's servers

As Russia’s federal censor blocks millions of IP addresses in an effort to disable access to the instant messenger Telegram, at least 73 website owners have appealed to the human rights group “Agora” (whose lawyers also represent Telegram against the Russian state), complaining that Roskomnadzor’s carpet-bombing approach has disrupted their businesses and cost them money.

Pavel Chikov, the head of Agora, says these small business owners have no connection whatsoever to Telegram and merely happened to use one of the cloud services swept up in Roskomnadzor’s censorship. The group is making a collective appeal to the Russian Attorney General’s Office, asking it to review the legality of Roskomnadzor’s actions.

One potential obstacle for this collective appeal: Roskomnadzor cites a decision by the Attorney General’s Office as its authorization for blocking the millions of IP addresses used by Telegram to circumvent Russia’s ban.