Russian bloggers who run large Telegram channels have been ordered to transfer their rights to a Roskomnadzor bot. This requirement applies to channels with more than 10,000 subscribers, Russian media reports.
Mandatory registration for channel administrators on Telegram has been in effect since November 1, 2024, and since the beginning of 2025, government officials have begun demanding that social networks block pages not registered with Roskomnadzor.
Roskomnadzor states that upon registration and to receive the "A+" marking, channel owners must launch a special bot in Telegram and add it to the list of channel administrators. This procedure is a mandatory step.
"This is the only way for Telegram to confirm your ownership of the channel being registered. After launching the bot, the registration number received at the State Service is checked against the one entered into the bot. There is no other procedure for confirming ownership of a channel on this social network," Roskomnadzor said in a statement.
Recall that Roskomnadzor previously also introduced a partial restriction on voice calls on Telegram and WhatsApp, as messengers are the main channels for fraud and "involvement in subversive and terrorist activities."