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Telegram asks court to revoke FSB order on handing over keys to its codes

The messenger’s management believes that the FSB did not have powers to issue this order as it runs counter to the law requiring a court decision on access to the citizens’ messages

© Sergey Konkov/TASS

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/. Top managers of Telegram messenger have filed a lawsuit in Russia’s Supreme Court on cancelling an order of the Federal Security Service that demanded the encryption keys to decode the users’ messages, lawyer Ramil Akhmetgaliyev said.

"The company, Telegram Messenger LLP, has lodged an administrative lawsuit in the Russian Supreme Court on recognizing as illegal the FSB order № 432 from July 19, 2016 on the procedures for Internet information distribution organizers on providing data necessary for decoding electronic messages of the network’s users," the lawyer said.

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The lawyer explained that the messenger’s management believes that the FSB did not have powers to issue this order as it runs counter to the law requiring a court decision on access to the citizens’ messages.

On October 16, the magistrate’s court ordered Telegram Messenger LLP, registered in London, to pay 800,000 rubles ($13,500) for refusing to meet the FSB demand on handing over information for decoding messages. The company later challenged the decision. On December 12, Moscow’s Meschansky court will consider if the decision on the fine was legal.

Telegram is a popular messenger supported by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, which has 100,000,000 monthly active users, according to the company. More than 600,000 new users sign up each day and 15 billion messages are delivered daily.

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