Messengers are blocked in Turkmenistan

Messaging communication services for cell phones Wechat ? Line have been blocked in Turkmenistan. These applications, which allow people to exchange text messages, are very popular in Turkmenistan.

Unlike regular text messages, one can share photos, exchange audio files, various smiles with the help of messengers as well as arrange group chats with people from all over the world. Moreover, these applications are free of charge and a small part of internet traffic is used to send and receive messages, whereas it costs money to send a text message. Now the Turkmen residents will have to look for alternative applications to keep in touch with friends.

It is not for the first time that the Turkmen subscribers have encountered the problem of blocked chat applications. Last autumn cell operators blocked messengers Whatsapp ? Viber, which used to be popular at that time. The country's residents had to find alternative communication services which were still operational in Turkmenistan – eChat and Line. A year later the same story has happened.

Official reasons behind the blocking of these applications have not been reported. However, one can suggest that the reason is that these applications encrypt outgoing and incoming messages due to which it is impossible to intercept them by third parties.

The control over the information dissemination in Turkmenistan is one of the key priorities of the special services. Any loopholes which can be used for downloading and uploading information are blocked, whereas widely-used messengers suit these purposes perfectly.

Source: TIHR