Russia Demands Apple Remove Telegram From Russian App Store

The Russian government has asked Apple to help it block Telegram, the secure messaging app that's highly popular in the country, reports WCCFTech.

A Russian court in April ordered carriers and internet providers in the country to block Telegram back in April, after Telegram refused to provide Russia with backdoor access to user messages.

Telegram, for those unfamiliar with the app, offers end-to-end encryption for secure messaging purposes. With end-to-end encryption, no one, not even Telegram, can access the messages that are sent between users.

Despite issuing the block order back in April, Russia has only been able to disrupt Telegram's operations in the country by 15 to 30 percent.

Given the government's inability to block the app, Roskomnadzor, the division of the government that controls media and telecommunications, has demanded that Apple remove the Telegram app from the Russian App Store. The group first asked Apple to remove the app in April, but is appealing to Apple again.

"In order to avoid possible action by Roskomnadzor for violations of the functioning of the above-mentioned Apple Inc. service, we ask you to inform us as soon as possible about your company's further actions to resolve the problematic issue," the regulator wrote.

Roskomnadzor has given Apple one month to remove the Telegram app from the App Store. Roskomnadzor's director Alexander Zharov said he did not want to "forecast further actions" should Apple not comply with the request following the 30 day period.

The Russian government said that it needed access to Telegram to read messages and prevent future terror attacks in the country.

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Tags: Russia, Encryption, Telegram

Top Rated Comments

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Z400Racer37

18 months ago

Encrypt all of the everything that matters and give 'em the finger...

Rating: 11 Votes

ikir

18 months ago

So does the iPhone not have not end to end Encryption?

? entire iOS home is encrypted and iMessage have end to end Encryption.

Telegram is great, much more better than battery hungry, performance hog, space black hole which is Whastapp. Sadly is target yes by government, usually sucky ones, because encryption.

Rating: 9 Votes

gaximus

18 months ago

Ask Apple. I'm not the one not allowing you to sideload apps. You got a problem? Take it up with Apple... not like they'll listen to you anyway. I'm just the messenger.

Why be on this site if you have so much hatred for Apple. I hate McDonalds food, so I stay off of the McRumors site. (That was not intentional when trying to think of this analogy)

Rating: 8 Votes

zorinlynx

18 months ago

This sort of thing is why side-loading should be allowed by Apple.

Apple is probably going to be forced to remove the app to keep doing business in Russia, and people in Russia will no longer be able to install the app because their government sucks.

If you're listening, Apple, please enable side-loading. Put it behind as many "This is insecure" dialogs as you want; side-loading would allow people under repressive regimes to keep using the software they need to use.

Rating: 8 Votes

C DM

18 months ago

That would require Apple to believe in giving consumers choice. It will never happen, Apple doesn't give a damn about you or it's consumers. They only care about their investors. PERIOD.

Which is why so many consumers of Apple products actually enjoy them?

Rating: 7 Votes

bladerunner2000

18 months ago

This sort of thing is why side-loading should be allowed by Apple.

That would require Apple to believe in giving consumers choice. It will never happen, Apple doesn't give a damn about you or it's consumers. They only care about their investors. PERIOD.

Rating: 7 Votes

bitfactory

18 months ago

You have a better chance at being Apple CEO than Apple allowing side loading.

Rating: 7 Votes

btrach144

18 months ago

The fact that they don't feel the need to block iMessage tells me they must have a back door that Apple doesn't know about. Telegram must have done such a good job with their encryption model, which is why Russia is freaking out.

Rating: 5 Votes

gaximus

18 months ago

That would require Apple to believe in giving consumers choice. It will never happen, Apple doesn't give a damn about you or it's consumers. They only care about their investors. PERIOD.

How does not allowing side loading help the investors, it actually mean less people will use the iOS platform because of the lack of side loading. Your comment doesn't make any sense.

Rating: 4 Votes

manu chao

18 months ago

For Russia to have a big enough interest in banning something, it must be used by large enough group of people. iMessage is more limited from the start as it only works between iPhones (which have a market share of less than 30% in Russia). That is just one reason why Telegram ended up massively dominating the messaging market in Russia (created by a Russian likely helped as well).

Note also that Russia hasn't asked Apple to remove Signal (or other encrypted messaging services) as well. They care about being able to do bulk 'filtering' of messages, and thus they mainly care about what service the vast majority uses. They know that if somebody really wants to hide their communication, they'll be able to so regardless.

Rating: 3 Votes

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