Russian federal telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor said on 06 April it had filed a lawsuit to limit access to the Telegram messaging application after the company refused to give Russian state security services access to its users' secret messages. Ranked as the world's ninth most popular mobile messaging application, Telegram is widely used in countries across the former Soviet Union and Middle East. The number of active users reached 200 million in March.
As part of its services, Telegram allows users to communicate via encrypted messages which cannot be read by third parties, including government authorities. Russia’s federal security service FSB has said it needs access to some messages for its work, including guarding against terrorist attacks. Telegram has refused to comply with its demands, citing respect for user privacy.
