Russia adds international messenger Threema to official registry with a view to control users’ communications

Last week Threema, which claims to be “the world’s favorite secure messenger,” became the first-ever foreign messaging app to be added to the official Russian “Registry of Information-Dissemination Organizers.”

The news has been reported by Roskomsvoboda, a Russian NGO that aims to combat Internet censorship in Russia.

Since 2014, the Russian authorities have managed a list of online services that “organize the dissemination of information.” Today, this list includes websites like Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki (Russia’s two most popular social networks), the image board 2ch.hk, the email client Mail.ru, and dozens more services.

But Russia’s new “anti-terrorist” legislation, which was adopted last year and should come into force in 2018 or 2019, dramatically expanded the obligations of “information-dissemination organizers.” These companies will be required to store any type of content from their users’ communications for a period of six months. Metadata on these communications will need to be kept for three years by telecom companies and for one year by “information-dissemination organizers.”

Interviewed by Runet Echo, a Threema spokesperson said, however: “We operate under Swiss law and are neither allowed nor willing to provide any information about our users to foreign authorities.” ..