Image by Yuri Samoilov, from Wikimedia Commons

Telegram, WhatsApp Outages In Russia Spark Speculation

• Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
• Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor

Brief outages of Telegram and WhatsApp were reported in Russia yesterday, with the country’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, attributing the disruption to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) cyberattack targeting Russian telecom operators.

A DDoS attack is designed to overwhelm a website with excessive internet traffic, forcing it offline. According to The Moscow Times (TMT), Roskomnadzor claimed that the attack caused “large-scale disruption” but was repelled within an hour, allowing normal service to resume shortly after.

Reuters confirmed that the cyberattack was successfully repelled and that the messaging networks were restored to full functionality. They also reported that other online platforms, such as Wikipedia, Skype, and Discord, had also experienced disruptions.

However, as reported by TMT, some internet experts suspect the government’s involvement. They suggest that the authorities may have attempted to block the messaging services themselves amid increasing efforts to tighten internet censorship.

TMT reports that Stanislav Shakirov, technical director at Roskomsvoboda, suggested that Roskomnadzor’s attempt to block Telegram may have caused disruptions to other internet services, similar to a 2018 incident.

TMT also adds that Filipp Kulin, who monitors Roskomnadzor’s blocked websites, dismissed the DDoS attack claim as “nonsense,” arguing that a true DDoS would impact all operators, not just specific services.

Reuters notes that this incident follows recent reports from Russian internet monitoring services of a mass outage on YouTube, another platform under increasing scrutiny by Russian authorities. Additionally, Signal users in Russia reported glitches with the secure messenger app earlier this month.

The disruption to Telegram and WhatsApp, which are widely used in Russia, further highlights the ongoing tension between the Russian government and tech companies. In 2022, Moscow labeled Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, an “extremist” organization, leading to the ban of Facebook and Instagram within the country.

While these services can still be accessed using virtual private networks (VPNs), the recent outages suggest that the Russian authorities may be seeking to tighten their control over online communication.

Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash

New Chinese Game “Black Myth: Wukong” Breaks Single-Player Records on Steam

• Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert

The new game Black Myth: Wukong, developed by the Chinese company Game Science, reached over 2.2 million users on Steam this week. According to PCGamer , it just earned a record as “the second-highest peak player record in Steam’s history” within just a few hours after its launch this Tuesday.

Black Myth: Wukong , considered an AAA game—with the highest development budgets and levels of promotion—was inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West, published during the Ming dynasty in the 16th century. Players become Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, and must defeat monsters during a 15-hour journey. Its massive reach and promotion have also sparked controversy and debate.

According to the New York Times , gamer influencers had reached out to play and stream the video game before its launch. However, the restrictions regarding what these influencers were allowed to speak about were criticized. The list included forbidden topics like “feminist propaganda,” Covid-19, and isolation. The Chinese company has refused to comment on this.

Benoit Reinier, a journalist and YouTuber, shared a review and expressed being upset about the situation. “I have never seen anything that shameful in my 15 years doing this job. This is very clearly a document which explains that we must censor ourselves,” said Reinier.

Game Science invested over $50 million in the creation of the game and reached the first spot in the list of the top games played on Steam. B lack Myth: Wukong quickly became a trending topic on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, with many citizens taking pride in the Chinese culture, as the default language is Chinese and the history is based on a traditional Chinese story, but it also had critics. The hashtag “Black Myth: Wukong insults women,” in Chinese, also went viral on the social media platform.

The Chinese government has also taken advantage of the game’s popularity. The Department of Culture and Tourism in Shanxi featured the landmarks mentioned in the game in a cultural video.