Russia Blames DDoS Attack for Major Outages of Telegram, WhatsApp, Says Roskomnadzor

Aug 21, 2024, 01:04 PM

Russia experienced widespread outages affecting popular messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp on August 21, 2024. The country's official media regulator, Roskomnadzor, reported these disruptions, attributing them to a DDoS attack. However, internet experts and activists suggest that the Russian government may have been testing its ability to block these services. In addition to Telegram and WhatsApp, users reported issues accessing other services such as Skype, Wikipedia, iMessage, VKontakte, Steam, Discord, Twitch, and various websites. The outage also impacted mobile operators, leaving many people without internet access. Downdetector confirmed the disruptions.