Messaging App, Telegram Banned In Iran For Propaganda Against Govt.

Iran has followed in Russia’s footsteps by banning Telegram, the app almost half of the country’s population use for public groups and encrypted personal messaging. According to reports, over 40 million people use Telegram in Iran.

The move came just weeks after Iran’s rulers started telling people to instead use locally-developed messaging platforms.

In its ruling to ban the app, the Judiciary said: “Considering various complaints against the Telegram social networking app by Iranian citizens, and based on the demand of security organizations to confront the illegal activities of Telegram, the judiciary has banned its usage in Iran.”

The Iranian judiciary said it had banned Telegram because of “propaganda against the establishment, terrorist activities, spreading lies to incite public opinion, anti-government protests, and pornography.”

Iran has previously issued temporary blocks on Telegram during waves of protests, such as those that took place at the end of last year and in January this year. At the time, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the platform had refused to shut down channels used for peaceful protests—Telegram channels are public groups, separate from the encrypted-functionality that the app also provides.

It remains to be seen how well the ban will work in practice. As in Iran, Russian authorities have also ordered Internet service providers to block access to Telegram, but it reportedly still works there.