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Telegram founder vows to stand for freedom and privacy

Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court turned down Telegram's request for declaring void a FSB order demanding the company provide keys for decoding users’ messages

Telegram founder Pavel Durov REUTERS/Albert Gea

Telegram founder Pavel Durov

© REUTERS/Albert Gea

MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. The Telegram messenger will maintain its confidentiality policy for users despite threats of potential blocking, Telegram founder Pavel Durov tweeted on Tuesday in a comment on the possibility of messenger blocking in Russia because of the refusal to hand over encryption keys.

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) 20 March 2018

"Threats to block Telegram unless it gives up private data of its users won't bear fruit. Telegram will stand for freedom and privacy," Durov wrote.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russia’s Supreme Court turned down Telegram’s lawsuit containing a demand for declaring void the order issued by the federal security service FSB establishing the rules and procedures for obtaining the codes needed to read users’ electronic messages. The Russian telecom watchdog Roskomnadzor notified Telegram it had fifteen days to comply with Russian legislation.

No reasons to grant exceptions to Telegram are in place and the decision of the Supreme Court is binding for performance, Russia’s Telecom Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said earlier. Pavel Durov has not approached the ministry for consultations on this issue, Nikiforov said.

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