Russia’s Supreme Court rejects Telegram’s appeal over blocked messaging app

The Russian Supreme Court on Friday rejected Telegram’s cassation appeal over a decision by consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor to block the messaging app. The watchdog began blocking Telegram in April 2018 based on a lower court’s decision after the company refused to fulfill the requirement to transfer keys to the Federal Security Service (FSB) to decrypt user messages. Rospotrebnadzor chief, Aleksandr Zharov, dismissed the company’s claims that passing encryption keys was technically impossible. In August last year, the Supreme Court also rejected Telegram’s appeal against the FSB order, which requires access to the app’s encryption keys.