Telegram hit with a second fine in two days of 3.8 million rubles: total since the start of 2026 has reached 100 million rubles

The Tagansky District Court of Moscow on August 19, 2026, found the messenger Telegram Messenger Inc. guilty of an administrative offense and imposed a fine of 3.8 million rubles on the company. The basis was a violation of the procedure for restricting access to information that is subject to restriction under Russian legislation — under Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CoAO). As the court told TASS, this is already the second fine of the same size issued to the messenger in two days.

Second fine in two days

The day before, on August 18, the Tagansky District Court of Moscow fined Telegram the same amount — 3.8 million rubles — for a similar offense under Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the CoAO. Under the current version of the article, the maximum fine for such a violation for legal entities is 4 million rubles, meaning the sanctions issued are approaching the upper limit of administrative liability for the company.

August surge: 14 million for three protocols

In the same month, on August 12, Telegram was fined 14 million rubles: three administrative offense protocols were drawn up against the company. Under one of them, the court recovered 7 million rubles under Part 4 of Article 13.41 of the CoAO, and under the other two — 3.8 million rubles each under Part 2 of the same article. It was reported that the messenger had not removed information about extremist organizations and so-called zecers, and had not restricted access to publications with answers to the Unified State Exam (USE).

Cumulative effect: over 100 million in half a year

According to Interfax, citing law enforcement agencies, Moscow courts alone fined Telegram a total of over 100 million rubles in just the first six months of 2026. Thus, the series of August sanctions — 14 million on the 12th and 3.8 million each on the 18th and 19th — became a continuation of a consistent practice of recoveries accumulated since the start of the year.

Legal context: Article 13.41 of the CoAO

Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the Russian CoAO provides for liability for violating the procedure for restricting access to information resources whose access is subject to restriction under Russian legislation. For companies, the upper limit of the fine under this part is 4 million rubles, while Part 4 of the same article, applied on August 12, provides for higher sanctions — up to 7 million rubles. The totality of the decisions issued in August shows that the courts consistently use both levels of liability depending on the nature and recurrence of the violation.

Outlook and dynamics

The recurrence of fines over several consecutive days indicates that, in the courts' assessment, the obligations to remove and restrict access to prohibited content are not being fulfilled on time. Against the backdrop of a cumulative sum of over 100 million rubles in the first half of 2026, the further dynamics of recoveries will depend on whether the company responds promptly to the demands of law enforcement agencies and regulators regarding content moderation.