Russia begins blocking messenger service Telegram

The judges had ordered Telegram to be blocked after the online service refused to allow the Russian security authorities to decrypt private chats.

Telegram informed its Russian users on Monday that the authorities had begun blocking it. At best, access is still possible with an encrypted VPN connection.

Russian Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov had refused to give the Russian security authorities access to the app. On March 20, Roskomnadzor set the service a deadline of two weeks to comply with the authorities' demands. They argued that Telegram could also be used by "terrorist and extremist organizations".

On Monday, Durov described it as "revealing that authoritarian regimes (for example Russia) are trying to block Telegram because of encryption". Telegram considers the blocking to be "unconstitutional" and will continue to take action against it.

Kremlin communicates via ICQ

The Kremlin's media service informed accredited journalists on Monday that it would no longer be communicating via Telegram, but via the chat service ICQ. The service, which was developed in the 1990s, is owned by the Russian online company Mail.ru. It is owned by the billionaire Alisher Usmanov.

Since the launch of Telegram in 2013, the number of users has grown to over 200 million. The service is particularly popular with political activists due to its strong encryption, although it has also been used by extremists.

Recently, the use of Telegram was also banned in Iranian schools. The Ministry of Education announced that from now on only "domestic networks" may be used at educational institutions in the Islamic Republic.

France with its own service

Meanwhile, the French government announced the development of its own messenger service. The app has been programmed by a developer in government services and is being tested by 20 government employees.

The new software should become mandatory for the entire government by the summer, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Digital Affairs said on Monday. France needs a service that is not encrypted by the USA (WhatsApp) or Russia (Telegram). The spokesperson also referred to the recent data scandal involving WhatsApp parent company Facebook. "That's why we should take the lead."

President Emmanuel Macron used Telegram for his election campaign last year and is still often online there today. Since this year, however, there have been increasing data protection concerns. For example, government employees cannot use WhatsApp or Telegram on their work phones. (SDA)