Previously, Iranian government blocked messaging and social media apps such as Instagram and Telegram to “maintain peace,” but it was pretty clear that it was a way to prevent protestors from communicating and documentation get anything. While Iran did this to the public, it’s taking things a step further.
The country has now banned government officials from using Telegram. According to Reuters, an Iranian official in the judiciary said that Telegram can operate in the country only with permission from the government. It’s not out of the question that the service could see a country-wide ban either.
This isn’t the first time we’re seeing such action take place. Russian has already moved to ban Telegram from the country because the service’s founder Pavel Durov refused to comply with demand to hand over encryption keys.
According to Reuters, Iran’s government controlled media reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stopped using the service “in line with safeguarding national interests and removing the monopoly of the Telegram messaging app.” We’l’ just have to wait and see if the country takes any further actions against the service.
