Russian court orders ban on secure messaging app Telegram

The court ordered the ban of Telegram on Friday, reports Reuters. The ban comes a week after Russia’s state communication watchdog filed a lawsuit to limit access to the app after the company refused to turn over its encryption keys. But the ban on Telegram in the country won’t just cause alarm with privacy advocates and Russian Telegram users. The app is also very popular with Russian government officials who will now see their access blocked, too. Telegram is the second major network to be banned in Russia. In 2016, LinkedIn was banned in the country because it did not store data on Russian users on servers inside Russia.