In 2014, Pavel Durov fled the country after allies of the Kremlin took control of the social networking site most know just as VK. Russia's intelligence agency had asked Durov to turn over the data of anti-Kremlin protesters. Durov refused to do so. In 2018, Russia banned Telegram although it reversed the prohibition two years later. Telegram users are able to send files of any type up to 2GB each and access them from any device, with no limit on cloud storage, which has made downloading files more popular on the platform. Such instructions could actually endanger people — citizens receive air strike warnings via smartphone alerts. "Your messages about the movement of the enemy through the official chatbot … bring new trophies every day," the government agency tweeted.
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