Messenger Signal blocked in Russia for breaching legislation - Roskomnadzor

MOSCOW. Aug 9 (Interfax) - The Russian telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor has restricted user access to the messenger Signal on the territory of Russia due to violations of the legislation requirements that need to be fulfilled to prevent terrorism and extremism, the agency press service told Interfax on Friday.

"User access to the messenger Signal is restricted due to violations of the requirements of the Russian legislation whose fulfillment is necessary to prevent the use of the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes," the press service said.

Russian users reported problems in the work of the messenger Signal on Friday. Some IT experts said, citing monitoring instruments, that the service has been blocked in Russia.

Signal (previously TextSecure) is a client application for instant messaging and Internet telephony with a free and open source code; the main emphasis in the development of the product is on its confidentiality and security.