Russia bans messaging app Discord

Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has announced that the popular messaging and social media application Discord has been blocked in the country for failing to comply with legal requirements.

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According to the Russian TASS news agency, a statement from the Roskomnadzor press service indicated that the Discord messaging application violated Russian laws.

The statement noted that the application was being used for terrorist and extremist purposes, that citizens were being deceived for these ends, and that it facilitated drug sales and the dissemination of illegal information, leading to the decision to block the application.

The statement also recalled that last year, a court fined Discord 6 million rubles (approximately 62 thousand dollars) for failing to remove illegal information from the application.

Roskomnadzor had previously sent requests to Discord management to remove 947 pieces of illegal material.

Discord was founded in 2015 to enable better communication for computer gamers.