A Moscow court has satisfied the demand of Russia’s telecommunications watchdog to block access to the Telegram messaging app in Russia over its failure to furnish keys to the Federal Security Service to decrypt user messages, TASS reports.
"The court ruled to satisfy the demand of Roskomnadzor," Judge Yulia Smolina said.
The messenger will be blocked immediately, the court said.
Telegram said earlier it could not comply with the demand to provide the keys because it employs end-to-end encryption.
Last month creator Pavel Durov said it would not "give up" the private data of its users.
"Telegram will stand for freedom and privacy," he said in a Tweet post.
Threats to block Telegram unless it gives up private data of its users won't bear fruit. Telegram will stand for freedom and privacy.
— Pavel Durov (@durov) March 20, 2018
Telegram is currently trying to raise funds for expansion via an ICO. This involves investors buying into a crypto-currency, called Gram, created and run by the firm. So far, it is believed to have raised about $1.7bn via this funding scheme.
By Siranush Ghazanchyan