Telegram rejects claims messages sent on app can be accessed by foreign intelligence agencies

Telegram has rubbished claims made by the Russian authorities that messages sent on the messaging app can be accessed by foreign intelligence agencies, calling them “deliberate fiction”, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Insisting it had not found any breaches in the encryption protocols used for messages sent on the app, Telegram said that meant foreign intelligence agencies would be unable to access messages without its knowledge.

Telegram said that the new claim was being used to justify a crackdown on the messaging service, following a decision reportedly made by Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor to ban Telegram by 1 April.

In doing so, it appears the Kremlin is hoping to encourage citizens to switch to state-backed “super app” MAX, which critics have warned could be used to record user activity. 

On Tuesday, Russia’s Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev claimed that foreign intelligence agencies had access to correspondence in the messenger and that the ministry has “direct confirmation” of that from law enforcement agencies.

A complete ban on Telegram would be comparable to that already imposed on Instagram and Facebook, according to Telegram news channel Baza, suggesting that the messaging service would no longer work without using a virtual private network (VPN).