It’s been a long time coming, but Apple has at last approved an updated version of the Telegram iOS app, after series of complaints by Telegram’s CEO stating that Apple was blocking universal updates because Telegram was banned in Russia.
It was in mid-April that Russia first put a ban on Telegram for refusing to give up encryption codes that would give the Federal Security Service (FSB) access to its user data. This ban brought quite some trouble for Telegram as it caused millions of IPs on Amazon and Google’s cloud platforms to be blocked and requests were made by the Government of Russia to companies like Apple to have the software removed from their respective app stores.
But Apple did not remove Telegram from the Russia version of the App Store. This made Russian authorities send an allegedly legally binding letter to Apple asking the company to remove the app within a month or it will have to face the consequences for violating local law.
Despite this, Apple has been blocking Telegram iOS updates from reaching users globally since March, not just Russia. As noted by Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, it meant that the iOS version of the app did not comply with EU’s new GDPR privacy law which was effected previously. Violation of GDPR may well attract in abrupt fines.
Durov in a Telegram message said, “Apple has been preventing Telegram from updating its iOS apps globally ever since the Russian authorities ordered Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store. While Russia makes up only 7 percent of Telegram’s userbase, Apple is restricting updates for all Telegram users around the world since mid-April.”
After Durov sounded the alarm over the situation, Apple apparently let
After this, Apple allowed Telegram’s first iOS app update that had been out for months go through. Durov thanked Apple and CEO Tim Cook for permitting the updates go through.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed on what will happen between the Russian government and Telegram.
