A Russian lawmaker wants to prohibit the messenger app Telegram, whose creator asks ‘Why not ban the written word’

"Why don't we just ban the written word?" Pavel Durov asked sarcastically today in a social media post, warning, "After all, words contain information that helps terrorists communicate with each other."

Durov's comments were in response to Russian lawmaker Alexander Ageyev, who formally appealed to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) to investigate the possibility of limiting Russians' access to the messaging app Telegram, which Durov created and manages.

"According to multiple reports in the Russian media, terrorists from the Islamic State actively use the messenger Telegram for propaganda purposes," Ageyev said in his appeal to the FSB.