Russia orders immediate block of Telegram messaging app

A Russian court has ruled that messaging app Telegram must be blocked in the country. The ruling follows months of battles between Telegram and Roskomnadzor, Russia’s telecommunications watchdog. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) wants to access user data from Telegram through the sharing of encryption keys, but Telegram has refused to comply even after a court ruling.

Russian news agency Tass reports that the messaging service will be “blocked immediately” following the latest court ruling, and that the ban will be in place until Telegram provides decryption keys to the FSB. It’s not clear how immediate the ban will be, though. The Financial Times reports that the ban will likely take place once Telegram has appealed over the next month.

Russia implemented strict anti-terrorism laws in 2016, which required messaging services to provide authorities with the ability to decrypt messages. Telegram has been challenging these laws. Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has not commented publicly about the ban yet, but the FT reports he withdrew his lawyers from today’s hearing after the court appointed it 24 hours in advance without warning.