Shoot the messenger: Russia likely to ban Telegram over use by terrorists

Telegram has become increasingly popular in Russia and elsewhere, due in part to its safety features

On June 26, Russia's Federal Security Service announced that the April 3 terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg metro, which left 16 people dead, was coordinated using the messaging app Telegram.

In a press release, the Security Service (FSB) said it had “reliable information about the use of Telegram by the suicide terrorist, his accomplices, and his foreign handler to conceal their criminal intentions at all stages of organizing and preparing the terrorist attack.” The statement echoed similar sentiments from the US and European governments who have pushed for greater control over social media and messaging apps, arguing that they enable perpetrators to communicate and coordinate attacks.

The announcement comes amid a broader effort by the Russian government to force the messaging app company to store users’ chat histories and private encryption keys on Russian soil.

Recent statements from Aleksandr Zharov, the head of Roskomnadzor, the Russian state censor, have signaled that Telegram's days in Russia may be numbered. On June 23, Zharov accused Russian-born Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who is also the founder of VKontakte, Russia's most popular social network, of being “neutral with respect to terrorism and crime.”

In the same statement, Zharov said that Telegram had not responded to Roskomnadzor's request for information necessary to include the app on Russia's “Registry of Information Disseminators.” The registry was introduced as part of a federal law that requires websites to locally store all Russian users’ metadata (data about the time, place and people involved in communication, but not the content of their messages) and make it accessible to the Russian authorities. Social networks VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, the email client Mail.ru, and dozens more services are on the list.

Last month, the lower house of parliament introduced a bill that would ban anonymity on online messengers and force apps like Telegram to register with the Registry of Information Disseminators, though it has not yet entered into law.