Russian watchdog Roskomnadzor has asked American tech giant Apple to help enforce the ban on Telegram in Russia. The popular messaging app, Telegram, got banned in the country after it refused to give Russia’s Federal Security Service access to private conversations.
Roskomnadzor, Russian federal executive body responsible for censorship in media and telecommunications, sent a letter to Apple aking it to block push notifications for Telegram users in Russia so that they no longer receive alerts for new messages, thereby making the social media platform less useful.
The regulator also asked the company to no longer make it available for download in the country.
Here’s what the regulator said in its letter to Apple- “In order to avoid possible action by Roskomnadzor for violations of the functioning of the above-mentioned Apple service, we ask you to inform us as soon as possible about your company’s further actions to resolve the problematic issue.”
Alexander Zharov, Roskomnadzor’s director, told Interfax, Russian news agency, that Apple had one month to reply to the regulator’s request. He declined to answer what action the regulator could possibly take if the iPhone maker refused to comply.
Telegram is a cloud-based messaging app that let users exchange messages, share photos and videos of unlimited size (in groups of up to 5,000 people), and offers securely encrypted communications. It promises in its description that it won’t give third parties access to its user’s data, looks like the company kept its promise. Telegram got banned in Russia on April 16.
In order to increase surveillance of Internet activities, a Moscow court banned Telegram last month following a long-running battle with the authorities over access to its securely encrypted communications. Thousands of users who use and support the messaging service repeatedly protested against the ban in Russia.
Russian programmer Pavel Durov, who created Telegram, has vowed to reject any attempt by Russia’s security services to gain forced access to the app. Since the launch in 2013 by Durov and his brother Nikolai, the platform has attracted over 200 million monthly active users.
Roskomnadzor acknowledged that it has only succeeded by 15 to 30 percent at disrupting Telegram’s operations in the country. Russian officials including Zharov said that the ban on Telegram was justified as it has been used in the planning of terror attacks across the world.
