Russian government officially requested Apple to block Telegram
Russia’s Federal Communications Ministry of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media Supervision Agency Roskomnadzor of Russia’s communications regulator said on Monday (May 28th) that it has formally requested Apple’s assistance in censoring popular encrypted IMs. Telegram was used because the company had repeatedly refused to provide access to user encryption information to the Russian intelligence agency, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
Roskomnadzor said that it has asked Apple to remove the Telegram Messenger application from the Apple Store and stop sending push notifications to Telegram users. This means that users will not receive any new Telegram alerts, reducing users’ convenience. Loved by Telegram.
In an interview with the Interfax, the head of Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov said that Apple will have a month to respond to this request.
Telegram was founded in 2013 by Russia’s brothers Pavel Durov and Nikolai Durov. They have long insisted that they would refuse the country’s security services department’s attempt to obtain an application back door. Claim. As the ninth-most popular instant messaging application in the world, Telegram is very popular in the countries of the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. This free application allows people to exchange messages, expressions, photos, and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people and successfully attracted more than 200 million users.
In April this year, Roskomnadzor filed a lawsuit in a Moscow court to stop the use of Telegram in Russia. The court finally ruled that Telegram must be blocked in the country. In order to implement the ban, local Internet providers (ISPs) blocked 1.8 million IPs on Amazon and Google’s cloud platform to block access to Telegram.
After receiving court support, Roskomnadzor launched an all-out campaign against Telegram. On May 3, it again introduced new enforcement measures to require the download site APK Mirror to remove Telegram and 50 virtual private networks (VPNs). Internet agents and the Internet browse applications anonymously to further block Telegram.
However, the head of Roskomnadzor Zarov admitted in an interview last week that the agency has only successfully blocked 15% to 30% of its business. Zarov also stressed that the ban on Telegram is reasonable because it has been used to plan the latest terrorist attacks in various parts of the world.
In addition, Zarov told Russia’s TASS on Monday that Google is currently discussing whether to implement the ban.
Source: AFP
