Moscow blocks Telegram app

This illustration photo taken on April 6, 2018 in Moscow shows the Telegram messenger application displayed on the screen of a smartphone. (AFP)

• The mobile messaging app allows users to communicate via encrypted messages which cannot be read by third parties
• Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram, had said that his company would not hand over encryption keys

A Russian court on Friday ordered that access to the Telegram app should be blocked in Russia, Russian news agencies reported, heralding communication disruption for scores of users. The decision came a week after Russia’s state communication watchdog filed a lawsuit to limit access to the Telegram app following the company’s refusal to give state security services access to its users’ messages.
With more than 200 million users worldwide, the mobile messaging app allows users to communicate via encrypted messages which cannot be read by third parties, including government authorities.
Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram, had said that his company would not hand over encryption keys to Russian authorities as it does not share confidential user data with anyone.