14 DAY TRIAL // Russia banned Telegram on Monday after the service refused to hand over encryption keys in order to access user conversations, and now the country continues efforts to block access to the messaging platform by cutting access to VPNs and links offering the app.
Officials in Kremlin have also requested Microsoft, Google, and Apple to remove Telegram from their app stores, but until now, these companies haven’t yet announced a decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union, a nonprofit civil rights organization, is calling for tech giants to resist Russia’s struggle to censor the Internet and refuse to pull the Telegram app.
“Stand for human rights by ensuring Telegram's access to their platforms and allowing them to change IP addresses without limit,” ACLU said in a message to tech companies.
Russian officials still use Telegram
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, says Russia has banned more than 15 million IP address this week in an attempt to restrict access to the messaging service in the country. “Regardless, Telegram remained available for the majority of Russia’s resident,” he said.
Reports from Russia media reveal that despite the ban, Telegram continues to be a widely-used messaging service in the country, and even state officials continue to log into the service regularly. RBC writes that state officials in Kremlin, State Duma, and the Federal Council, plus several other government agencies are believed to be using Telegram these days.
Durov says Telegram hasn’t recorded a massive drop in Russia following the ban and says that most users would turn to proxies and VPN services to be able to continue chatting despite the restriction.
In the meantime, several VPN services have expressed their support for Telegram and offered to help users bypass the ban, despite Russia’s warning that further blocks would be enforced.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that it takes time to completely block a service in the country, and suggested that while there are still ways to connect to Telegram right now, this could change in the coming weeks. “Let us wait just a little more,” he said.