Apple has prevented Telegram from updating its app ever since Russian authorities ordered its removal from the App Store, the CEO of the popular messaging app has revealed.
Telegram has been banned in Russia since April after the app refused to provide decryption keys to the country's security agencies, which would have allowed them to monitor the communications of Telegram users.
"We believe we did the only possible thing, preserving the right of our users to privacy in a troubled country," Telegram boss Pavel Durov said in a statement on Telegram on Thursday, 31 May.
"Unfortunately, Apple didn't side with us. While Russia makes up only 7 per cent of Telegram's user base, Apple is restricting updates for all Telegram users around the world since mid-April."
Mr Durov added that issues with features like stickers were unable to be fixed, despite an update being available.
The inability to update the iOS app also means that Telegram is unable to properly comply with GDPR for its users in the EU, Mr Durov said.
Apple has previously refused to help the FBI unlock an encrypted iPhone, with CEO Tim Cook saying in 2016 that it would "set a dangerous precedent," though private texts between FBI agents revealed that they considered Mr Cook a hypocrite.
"The US government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create," Mr Cook said at the time.
"Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the US government... Ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedom and liberty our government is meant to protect."
Apple has not responded to a request for comment from The Independent about Mr Durov's comments.
