Can you keep using Telegram after Durov is designated a 'terrorist and extremist'? Experts explain

Can you keep using Telegram after Durov is designated a 'terrorist and extremist'? Experts explain

Ekaterina Smirnova, a partner at Digital & Analogue Partners, said in comments to Kommersant that the restrictions will primarily affect the personal funds and other property of the messenger’s founder.

"Ordinary use of Telegram (messaging, reading channels, calls) still does not constitute a crime. At the same time, I would not say that the decision has no significance at all for Telegram: it increases pressure on the platform and may become another step toward further restrictions on its operation. But Durov’s inclusion on the list does not entail any automatic consequences for users or any automatic ban on Telegram," she noted.

Information technology expert Vladimir Zykov, in a conversation with RIA Novosti, added that users may continue installing the app, logging into their accounts, messaging, reading channels, making calls, and running their own channel. There is no need to delete Telegram, leave channels, or give up Premium that has already been paid for, he said.

🔹But, according to lawyer Maksim Sikach, amendments were made in July 2025 to the federal law "On Extremist Activity" that make it possible, if one of an organization’s members is found guilty under extremist articles, to automatically recognize that organization as "extremist."

"At the same time, Telegram would require a separate court ruling recognizing its activity as terrorist. For now, it is difficult to say whether this creates grounds for an offense in relation to ordinary users. At the same time, if parallels are drawn with Facebook, there was a court ruling there that separately spelled out Russian citizens’ use of its services. Whether there will be the same reservation with regard to Telegram is unknown," the lawyer told Kommersant.

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