Around 700 million people around the world use Telegram, a messaging app founded by famed tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov. Warranted or not, it built a reputation as an antiauthoritarian and secure way to message other people. The Kremlin’s widespread arrests of Russian antiwar activists, where police cited eerily precise access to the exact text of their messages, has raised red flags. A fundamental question, unanswered by Telegram, regards what deal they reached with the Russian government to keep the messaging service from being blocked—the details are hard to come by. The World’s Carol Hills interviews Darren Loucaides, a freelance reporter who investigated for Wired.
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