The Audience of Foreign Messengers in Russia Grew by 26%. Telegram Remains Among the Leaders Despite the Block

The audience of foreign messengers in Russia grew by 26%. Telegram remains among the leaders despite the block

Kommersant writes this, citing a study by MTS AdTech.

The total audience of foreign messengers not blocked in Russia grew by 26% in the second quarter of 2026. The leader was Turkey’s BiP, whose number of unique users from Russia increased by 120% and reached 4.3 million. In second place was South Korea’s KakaoTalk. That messenger’s audience grew by 80% and reached nearly 1.3 million people.

At the same time, the study says, the growth rate slowed compared with the first quarter.

Nevertheless, the share of all these services is still insignificant compared with Telegram and Max, Kommersant writes. According to Mediascope, in June their monthly audience was 75.7 million and 86.2 million people respectively respectively. WhatsApp had 63.5 million. At the same time, both WhatsApp and Telegram are almost completely blocked in the country.

Meduza wrote about alternatives to Telegram here.

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Meduza

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