The Russian Federal Service for Telecommunications Supervision (Roskomnadzor) has announced the blocking of access to Telegram’s short-link site, t.me, at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office.
The veto is under Article 15.3 of the Law on Information that regulates restricting access to information with calls for widespread unrest and participation in unauthorized actions, extremism or access to dubious information that appears to be a reliable message, Russian news agency Interfax reports.
Interfax itself has sent a request to Roskomnadzor asking for an explanation of the reason for blocking the site.
Telegram is a messaging application that allows information to be distributed through personal channels and accounts via mobile devices or computers.
It allows encrypted and direct communication between sender and recipient, bypassing intermediate servers, so it is often used by activists.
The Russian authorities have fined the company for refusing to hand over the encryption code for messages, revealing the participants of certain chats or refusing to remove documentation containing information for sabotage.
