The Messenger Discord is facing a complete ban in Russia

Russia’s digital isolation continues: After Google and many other services, Discord is now also threatened with a blockage. The popular messaging service with millions of Russian users is about to close. However, the specific reasons for the ban remain unclear.

Digital censorship in Russia is intensifying

Russia is vigorously continuing its course of “digital sovereignty”. According to recent reports, the popular messaging platform Discord is now on the verge of a nationwide ban. Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor has issued five orders against Discord in recent weeks.

These could serve as the basis for an upcoming ban. Experts believe that the lockdown could happen in the near future. However, the exact reasons for the impending ban remain unclear; officially there is only talk of “violations of Russian law”. As the Moscow Times Reportedly, Discord has between 30 and 40 million active users in Russia.

The platform is particularly popular among gamers, students and cryptocurrency traders. A ban would therefore not only significantly restrict the communication of these groups, but also pose major challenges for the Russian gaming industry.

The fight for digital sovereignty

The possible Discord ban is one of a series of measures with which Russia has been sealing itself off from the outside since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – but is also isolating itself from the West. From Russia’s perspective, the aim is to become independent of Western technology companies and to strengthen control over the flow of information in the country. The steps taken so far have included:

• The ban on VPN services
• Plans for a national game engine
• Considerations for creating a “Russian version of Valve”
• Introducing Ruwiki, a self-censoring alternative to Wikipedia

The effects of this policy are already being felt. A Moscow court today fined Google and Discord 3.5 million rubles (about 33,300 euros) each for alleged violations of Russian laws regarding the removal of banned content.