Telegram breakdown on March 29

On March 29, 2018, Telegram messenger was not functioning in Europe, Middle East and CIS for about three hours. Both applications and the web version of the service did not work. Our users in Europe, Middle...

On March 29, 2018, Telegram messenger was not functioning in Europe, Middle East and CIS for about three hours. Both applications and the web version of the service did not work.

Our users in Europe, Middle East and the CIS countries are experiencing connection issues at the moment. We are looking into the issue and hope to bring you back online soon.

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) March 29, 2018

Pavel Durov, the head of Telegram Messenger LLP, the developing company the explained work interruptions with power outage in the server cluster. He noted that the resumption of work largely depends on how quickly all the problems will be solved on the side of the data center.

Power outage at a @telegram server cluster causing issues in Europe. Working to fix it from our side, but a lot depends on when the datacenter provider puts the power equipment in order.

— Pavel Durov (@durov) March 29, 2018

Roskomnadzor, Russian Internet regulator reacted to Telegram breakdown with a tweet that the agency has nothing to do with it.

Пользователи сегодня жалуются на сбой работы Telegram. По данным СМИ, больше всего жалоб поступает из России, Италии, Испании, Франции, Великобритании, Украины и Казахстана.

Если вам не терпится заподозрить во всем РКН, знайте — мы тут ни при чем. pic.twitter.com/7r1BY0PTlA

— Роскомнадзор (@roscomnadzor) March 29, 2018

Over the past year, the conflict between the regulator and Telegram has been developing. The company refuses to provide the secret services with the encryption keys for user chat rooms, as this will violate users privacy rights. Moreover client application creates one-time encryption keys, so the messenger simply can not know them. Telegram challenged the FSB's demand in the Supreme Court, but lost the case. In the near future Roskomnadzor will begin the procedure of blocking Telegram on the territory of Russia.

The work of Telegram has been restored in Western Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The messenger can still be unstable in Germany, Iran and the CIS.

In February 2018, Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai raised the first investment of $ 850 million for the development of the messenger and the new TON blockchain platform. The next stages of financing should raise a few more billions of dollars, which, in particular, will help make the service much more stable.