TALKS

In April 2018, Russia’s telecom regulator Roskomnadzor blocked Telegram on the country’s territory. We knew it was coming, so by the time the block went live, we had already upgraded the Telegram apps with support for rotating proxy servers, ways to hide traffic and other anti-censorship tools. We were joined by thousands of Russian engineers that set up their own proxies for Telegram users, forming a decentralised movement called Digital Resistance. The first week of the ban was challenging, and many of our users in Russia had connection issues. In an attempt to prevent users from accessing Telegram, Roskomnadzor blacklisted millions of IP addresses. However, thanks to Digital Resistance, after May 2018 Telegram became largely accessible in Russia. As a result, Telegram’s user base in Russia hasn’t decreased – in fact, it has doubled since 2018. In May 2020, out of 400 million monthly active users of Telegram, at least 30 million were from Russia. It means that our growth in Russia has been in line with our growth in other countries. To put it simply, the ban didn’t work. Last week, Roskomnadzor, which has a new director as of two months ago, decided to reflect reality by announcing that Telegram is no longer blocked in Russia. In their announcement, they referenced my June 4 message where I explained why the ban didn't make much sense. This change should be welcomed – and I hope it will last. If it doesn’t, however, we hope few users will notice any difference. Over the course of the last two years, we had to regularly upgrade our “unblocking” technology to stay ahead of the censors. I am proud of what we achieved – it is unique among social media apps. We don’t want this technology to get rusty and obsolete. That is why we have decided to direct our anti-censorship resources into other places where Telegram is still banned by governments – places like Iran and China. We ask the admins of the former proxy servers for Russian users to focus their efforts on these countries. They should also stand ready for new challenges: as the political situation in the world becomes more unpredictable, more governments may try to block privacy-focused apps like Telegram. The Digital Resistance movement doesn’t end with last week’s ceasefire in Russia. It is just getting started – and going global.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has introduced a package of constitutional reforms that would potentially allow him to remain in power until 2036. So what's next ? Next he will probably change his title from president to Tsar, monarchy and serfdom will be restored. "21 century? Never heard of it!" (Russia)

Knowledge sharing breaks racism. We all have some specific knowledge we can contribute to a world. It's in our best interest to facilitate the open discussion of ideas.

Some good news at last! Apparently we should have Covid 19 vaccine ready by September! https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/04/astrazeneca-is-set-to-make-two-billion-doses-of-a-coronavirus-vaccine.html

Again my humble outside/calm observation on US politics: - I see only one leader, who is being constantly advertised by everyone - Trump. - Current crisis is a feedback from people asking for justice. Great! Design justice reforms and lead them, or continue crying and pass responsibility to Trump. I think that this must come from Democratic Party, they should stop playing identity politics and get back to core problems. Republicans and Democrats have been able to generate great balance of the Strength and Empathy. At least that what it looks like to outsider: Republicans are about Strength and Freedoms, while Democrats are about Empathy for people. You must have both! Even as a human being, if you have no Empathy you can become a cruel sociopath. If you do not have Strength, you become a hysterical crybaby.

It seems pretty apparent that American political system needs reforms. The people sitting in Senate are out of touch busy fighting each other for power and main weapon- blaming. The democratic party clearly lacks any leadership. They do not act with reason, they seem to be constantly reacting with emotions. Why do they always advertise Trump? It started with Hilary Clinton's campaign. With all the smartest campaign managers they haven't learned that any advertising is good advertising. I was 100% sure she was going to become a president untill I saw her campaign ad 🤦‍♂it was talking about Trump! Democrats need new leaders who can lead, not complain. They should look for ideas of reforms from the current crisis, test them for people support and promote their ideas instead of Trump.

Great comment "Jackasses, you’re only on their side if you’re out there rioting and looting also." https://youtu.be/pN9DNUHS620

Right now SpaceX is launching astronauts for the first time! If you want to see a launch live follow YouTube link https://youtu.be/bIZsnKGV8TE

Right now SpaceX is launching astronauts for the first time! If you want to see a launch live follow YouTube link https://youtu.be/bIZsnKGV8TE

Since the launch of @channelmenubot the major problem was convincing people to try our service. People hate trying new things! Even if it will save them hours of useless work or brings them value. They don't want it ! People just want be left alone in a permanent state, but it's impossible live is always changing and u have to adapt or die. I think if I decide to try 1 new thing every month, I will be ahead of the 99% of people in 2 years time.

Someone had a really busy quarantine 😱