Authority asks Apple to erase Telegram app from App Store in Russia

MOSCOW, May 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian communications service has sent a letter to Apple with a request to delete the application of messenger Telegram, which is blocked in the country, from the local version of App Store, the authority said on Monday in a statement.

The watchdog also asked Apple to stop “a mailout of (Telegram’s) service push-messages for Russian users.”

“In order to avoid possible actions of the communications service on violation of functioning of the mentioned services of Apple Inc., please, inform us in the nearest time of further moves of the company aimed at solving these problematic issues,” the authority said.

The communications service started muting Telegram in April upon a court decision because of the popular messenger’s reluctance to share encryption keys with the Federal Security Service, the move Telegram says is technologically and morally impossible.

The watchdog started blocking the IP addresses, mainly of Amazon and Google, that Telegram used to skirt the muting, which was followed by a wave of complaints of inaccessibility of many services.

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