I’ve been writing about the ongoing fight between the Russian government and popular messaging app Telegram for a few weeks now. In short, Russia wanted Telegram’s encryption keys. Presumably so they can spy on Telegram users. Telegram said no. And as a result, here we are with Telegram being blocked in Mother Russia on the orders of a court:
The decision came a week after Russia’s state communication watchdog filed a lawsuit to limit access to Telegram messaging app following the company’s refusal to give Russian 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.
Here’s the ironic part, apparently the Russian government uses Telegram…. I wonder how they will do without it?:
The Kremlin uses Telegram to coordinate timings of regular conference calls with Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, while many government officials use the messenger to communicate with media.
When Reuters asked a person in the Russian government on how they would operate without access to Telegram, the person, who asked not be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, replied by sending a screenshot of his mobile phone with an open VPN app.
Wait, aren’t VPNs banned in Russia? Of course they are. I guess that in Russia, everyone is equal. But some are clearly more equal than others.
In any case, this fight between the Russia government and Telegram is likely to escalate. It will be interesting to see what shape that escalation takes.