[12] On 9 December 2011, TV Rain was asked to provide copies of its coverage of the protests to check if it had abided by Russian media laws.

In the following days the channel was criticized by politicians, activists, State Duma members and Valentina Matvienko[13][14] for its online poll on the Leningrad siege of World War II.

[17] In a resolution backed by the St. Petersburg legislature's deputies, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika was requested to "conduct an investigation into provocative material posted on [Dozhd] website … and, if just cause is found, take appropriate measures, including shutting down the channel.

[19] In November 2013, two months before the controversy, TV Rain broadcast a report by anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny investigating high-ranking officials including Vyacheslav Volodin.

[21] On 20 August 2021, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation added TV Rain, along with the investigative website Important Stories (iStories), into the list of "foreign agents".

[22][23] As stated by a representative of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation at the meeting with the members of Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, the channel was designated as "foreign agent" by the request of Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media due to distribution of materials prepared by media and individuals which were declared "foreign agents" that receive donations or funding from outside Russia earlier, such as Meduza, Current Time TV, Lev Ponomaryov, Lyudmila Savitskaya.

[24] In response, Amnesty International criticized the move, stating that the authorities were "launching a campaign against independent media aimed at eradicating unbiased journalism and investigative reporting".

In that period dozens of journalists and independent media agencies including TV Rain were designated as 'foreign agents' by the Russian authorities.

"[31] On 3 March, TV Rain said it was temporarily suspending operations due to the forthcoming enactment of war censorship law,[32] and towards the end of its final broadcast, the crew walked off-set and played Swan Lake in protest, in reference to the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt when channels could not report the news and instead played footage of the ballet.

[34][35] Tikhon Dzyadko stated on Twitter that the channel was going to broadcast not only from the Latvian capital, Riga, but also from several studios in the Netherlands, France and Georgia.

[39][40] On 1 December 2022, anchor Alexey Korostelev asked viewers to provide information about mobilization to publicize irregularities, saying: "We hope that we can help many service members, for example, with equipment and basic amenities at the front".

[41] The next day, editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko apologized, clarifying that the channel "has never been, is not, and will never be involved in assisting Russian armed forces with equipment" and stating that Korostelev had been fired.

[42][43] The same day the channel was fined 10,000 euros by the NEPLP for using a map which showed Russian-annexed Crimea as part of Russia and referring to the Russian Armed Forces as "our army", the second major violation for TV Rain in recent months, according to the Latvian regulator.

[44][45] On 6 December 2022, the NEPLP decided to cancel the channel's broadcasting license, citing "threats to national security and public order".

[52] CEO Natalya Sindeyeva apologized to Korostelev, calling it "disgraceful" that he was fired for a "mistake", asking him to rejoin the channel as well as Lyutova and Romensky.

[54] The Latvian Association of Journalists acknowledged TV Rain had "made a serious mistake", but believed the cancellation of licence was "disproportionate to the infringements committed".

[57] In December 2022, Latvia's TV3 Group decided to evict TV Rain from its leased Riga studio in January 2023 in connection with channel's loss of license.

[58][59] However, the Latvian Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs decided not to cancel employment visas issued to TV Rain employees.

[62] The next day, the channel wrote that its editorial center would be moved to Amsterdam once its employees receive permission to work there and that it was appealing the NEPLP's decision to cancel its broadcasting license.

The office also said the companies “discredit” Russian government bodies and law enforcement agencies, “disseminate false information” about the war in Ukraine, and support foreign agents.