A Russian court on Friday ordered that access to the Telegram messenger service should be blocked in Russia, Russian news agencies reported, heralding communication disruption for scores of users - including government officials. 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. Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram, had repeatedly said his company would not hand over encryption keys to Russian authorities as it does not share confidential user data with anyone. In Russia, Telegram is increasingly popular as an app for mobile devices and desktops - not only among ordinary people but is widely used by authorities. LinkedIn was blocked in 2016 when a court found the firm guilty of violating a law that requires companies holding Russian citizens' data to store it on servers on Russian soil.

Source: dna April 13, 2018 09:56 UTC