New Delhi:
Russia’s communications watchdog has started to enforce a nationwide ban on popular messaging application Telegram.
The Federal Communications Agency on Monday said Russians providers have been ordered to start blocking Telegram after a court last week sided with authorities that had earlier demanded the app to be blocked in Russia until it submits the keys to its data encryption.
Telegram, developed by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, argues that Russia’s FSB intelligence is violating consumer rights, while the superior authorities say the application has been used by the extremists.
Telegram was unavailable to users on Monday for a short time but was back online later in the day. Durov said earlier last week the the latest version would have ‘built-in’ features that would avoid the ban.
