If you play Guild Wars 2, World of Tanks, EVE Online, or World of Warcraft in Russia, you may find that access to these titles has become spotty or non-existent as of late. This is due to the Russian government cracking down on the Telegram messenger app, which came under fire for essentially allowing people to communicate without being spied upon by intrusive government agencies (and then refusing to grant said agencies backdoors into the system). Over 20 million IP addresses have been blocked in the country as of April 17th, a move that has affected many services and sites not related to Telegram.
The crackdown has basically shut down access to the login servers of Guild Wars 2 and EVE Online for some, prompting outrage and frustration among players who suddenly were not able to access their games.
“Users reported crashes of various services such as Microsoft and Windows updates; gaming networks like Playstation Network, Battle.net, and Xbox Live; online games by publisher Wargaming, Android apps client APK Mirror; video streaming services Netflix and Twitch.tv; online retailers, and many others,” reported Coin Telegraph.
