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Russia’s recent messaging crackdown is the cleanest real-world stress test of decentralization in years, and it produced an awkward result.
Roskomnadzor began throttling Telegram on Feb. 10, citing “non-compliance.” Two days later, authorities fully blocked WhatsApp, removing its domains from Russia’s national registry and forcing users toward VPNs or MAX, a state-backed messenger that critics describe as surveillance infrastructure disguised as a chat app.
The Kremlin had already mandated the…
