Report: Supreme Court dismisses Telegram appeal to security service

MOSCOW, Aug 9 (PRIME) -- The board of appeals of Russia’s Supreme Court has rejected a complaint of blocked popular messenger Telegram against the order of the Federal Security Service to get access to users’ correspondence, business daily Vedomosti reported on Thursday.

“The decision of the Supreme Court as of March 20 stays unchanged,” the board said.

The Supreme Court rejected Telegram’s lawsuit against the security watchdog for its demand to the messenger to share the decoding keys. The Federal Security Service said it needs keys to “ensure security.”

A service spokesperson said during a court session that the authority asked Telegram for such information about some users, but its request was denied.

The messenger’s lawyers said that the Federal Security Service’s document had been approved by an unauthorized entity with excess of power, among others.

On orders of the communications service, connection operators have been blocking the IP addresses that Telegram uses since April 16.

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