The Russian internet watchdog Roskomnadzor has restricted access to the messaging app Signal, citing legal issues.

Signal has long been promoted as a secure messenger, but critics have warned that it was developed and kept afloat with US intelligence funding.

In a statement to the media on Friday, Roskomnadzor said the ban was “due to the violation of requirements of Russian legislation, the implementation of which is necessary to prevent the use of the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes.”

The statement came several hours after Russian users of the app began complaining about outages.

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