Russia blocks access to Telegram messenger — developed by Russians
Unlike US problems with Facebook, Russia’s problem with Telegram is that it’s too privacy-minded
Imagine if the US banned Facebook after Mark Zuckerberg’s disappointing performance last week on Capitol Hill. Something similar happened in Russia on Monday as the country’s internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, ordered internet providers to block access to the Telegram messenger. This being President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the ban isn’t just an attack on the freedom of communication and expression: it happens to benefit the business of a Kremlin-friendly billionaire. According to App Annie, Telegram and Facebook-owned WhatsApp compete for first place in social networking app downloads in Russia. With a Russian user base of 15-million, it is rapidly catching up to the much older Facebook, which has about 25-million users. Developed by a predominantly Russian team headed by the brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, the feature-rich app, used by people in the government as much as the liberal opposition, ought to induce Russian national pride. Pavel Durov is as much of an icon to y...
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