Telegram is a fantastic application that allows users to send encrypted messages pictures, videos, and audio files to each other for free. The application doesn’t have intrusive ads, and it also has interesting group mechanics that allow many users to talk together at once. For these reasons, Telegram has become increasingly possible in many countries with over 62 million active users. The only bad news is that Saudi Arabia has blocked Telegram, cutting off service for a significant amount of users.
Parel Durov, CEO of Telegram, commented on the issue: “I confirm that Telegram traffic has been partially blocked in Saudi Arabia since yesterday’s evening.” He also noted that he wasn’t sure why Telegram had been blocked.
I confirm, Telegram traffic is partly limited in Saudi Arabia since yesterday evening. The reasons are unknown. https://t.co/9egmDp7Wv3
— Pavel Durov (@durov) January 10, 2016
While neither Durov or Saudi Arabia have made an official statement explaining the direct cause of the blockage, it’s only logical to suspect that Saudi Arabia has found Telegram threatening. Other countries like Iran blocked Telegram in October of 2015 since Telegram refused to allow Iran to censor user messages.
After Durov’s tweet, Users on Twitter noted that access to Telegram in Saudi Arabia was still possible with the use of a VPN. Since a VPN like TorGuard encrypts internet traffic through the connection to a remote server, users could bypass the block and still send messages to other users like normal.
It’s incredibly difficult to predict when a country will lash out at a company for giving users the power of privacy. Applications like Telegram are often vulnerable to blockages, but with the use of a VPN, you can guarantee that your traffic and applications like Telegram will always have a backup measure.
TorGuard VPN service is one of the only VPNs to divert considerable resources to users in censored countries to ensure that their access to the internet is unhindered. Services like Stealth VPN and Stealth Proxy prevent countries from censoring VPN use–and with TorGuard VPN, you can always access and unblock Telegram, regardless of your geographic location.
