Russia threatens to block Telegram messaging app

Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor on Friday accused the Telegram messaging app of violating Russian law and said the service may be blocked by Moscow if the company remains secretive.

Roskomnadzor's head, Alexander Zharov, said in a letter published on the regulator's website that time was running out for Telegram to submit company details for registration. 

Otherwise "Telegram must be blocked in Russia," it said. 

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, said the app was not blocked in any other country, adding if the app is banned in Russia then government officials will entrust their communications to other countries' messengers.

"As soon as Telegram is blocked, the correspondence of the Russian officials, their communication with friends and relatives as well as other sensitive data via WhatsApp/Viber will move to America-controlled clouds Apple iCloud/Google Drive," he wrote in his VKontakte social network page.

The 32-year-old had previously created Russia's popular VKontakte social media site, before founding Telegram in the United States. 

Telegram lets people exchange messages, photos and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people. It has attracted about 100 million users since its launch in 2013. 

The app is one of several targeted in a legal crackdown by Russian authorities on the Internet and on social media sites in particular.

Since January 1, Internet companies have been required to store all users' personal data in data centers in Russia and provide it to authorities on demand. 

(Source: Reuters, AFP)