Russia considers access to Facebook

Russia says it can block Facebook if this social media company does not store Russian users' data on servers located on Russian territory.

This warning from the head of the country's state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, comes just days after Russia blocked the coded Telegram message application:

The Facebook warning was made last week by Alexander Zharov, head of state media regulator Roskom-addensor. The reason? It has failed to respect data storage legislation.

Zharov told the newspaper Izvestia that his agency will conduct Facebook investigations by the end of the year and that if this social media platform has not put the data of Russian users on Russian territory, its agency will consider its deadlock.

A few days before that warning, a Moscow court approved a Roskom-advant request to block the Telegram application for encrypted messages. Due to the strong protection of privacy, Telegram has been used by extremist groups the reason cited by Russian authorities to demand that the app creator, Pavel Durov, hand over the passwords to Russian security officials.

But Durov has refused this, saying that the Telegram app will preserve the freedom and privacy of customers:

<x) The telegram will continue to protect freedom and privacy,” said Durov.

Roskom-adnister responded to Pavel Durov, blocking the data addresses, in the ownership of Google and Amazon companies, as they learned that the telegram used their data storage services to prevent them from stopping. Some say such an act is not productive.

The “Russians are hurting themselves with this action, because they have discovered an advanced technological product, but are blocking the use of this product worldwide. This shows Putin has a large domestic capacity for upgrading and developing interesting products, but in fact it is killing free initiative, for political reasons,” - says analyst Robert Ortung.

Telegram lawyers plan to appeal the court's decision to the European Court of Human Rights. They say they cannot comply with the media regulator's request because passwords are stored on users' phones and that the company has no access to them:

“Secret password stored in user equipment administrator has no access to them. In addition, they are constantly renovated. There is no key that can decipher chats”.

This is a tool Russia has and can apparently use to achieve its goals. But obviously, the capacities of these services are far greater than the Russian government's capacity for blocking them. ”

Telegram founder Pavel Durov called for “digital resistance”, saying he is prepared to pay network managers with the Bitcoin exchange tool to overcome government ban. / VoA