A rally and march is now underway in Academician Sakharov Avenue in Moscow. Its participants are standing in solidarity with the Telegram messaging service which was banned in Russia.
The event was organised by the Libertarian Party. It is backed by Telegram creator Pavel Durov and opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
About 5,000 people are reported to have taken to the streets. Many protesters are holding posters with slogans and flying paper planes.
On March 13, a Moscow court ruled for Roskomnadsor, Russia’s Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications, that had sued out the blocking of Telegram in the country. The watchdog filed a lawsuit against the company over its refusal to provide the Russian security services with encryption keys. Earlier Roskomnadzor gave Telegram time until 4 April. The representatives of the company say that the architecture of the the service does not allow for such a move.
Roskomnadzor also said it might block Facebook if the company failed to comply with the requirements on the placement of the user databases in the territory of the Russian Federation.
