Russia lifts ineffective ban on Telegram messaging app

After telecommunication providers were instructed to block the app in April 2018, it became briefly unavailable, but was back online within a few hours and has remained widely used ever since. Russian government officials were among the app’s active users, and some government agencies kept running their official accounts in Telegram. — Reuters

MOSCOW: Russia’s communications watchdog said on July 18 it would lift a ban on the popular messaging app Telegram after two years of unsuccessful attempts to block it.

“As agreed with the Prosecutor General’s office, Roskomnadzor withdraws the demand to restrict access to the Telegram messenger,” the agency said in a statement.