Iran Bans Use of Telegram Messenger

Iran officially banned the use of Telegram Messenger today in an effort to prevent citizens from organizing anti-government protests, reports the WSJ.

Using the app was prohibited as of Monday under a ruling by a Tehran-based court, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The order said Telegram gave Islamic State “safe ground” in an attack in Tehran last year and also blamed its role in protests in December and January, the biggest in Iran in almost a decade. It ordered telecommunications providers to block the service.

The app was still working on Monday following the order; however, Telegram may eventually be forced to resort to IP hopping to avoid being blocked. Telegram has been IP hopping in Russia since it was banned on April 13th leading Roscomnadzor, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, to block over 14 million IP addresses.


About 40 million Iranians, half the country's population, currently use Telegram largely due to the app's encrypted features that prevent government snooping. In a New Year's message, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said, "We consider freedom of speech an undeniable human right, and would rather get blocked in a country by its authorities than limit peaceful expression of alternative opinions."

You can download Telegram Messenger from the App Store for free.

Download [via WSJ]