Moscow court bans Telegram bot ‘Eye of God’ over privacy violations

At the request of Russia’s censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court has banned the Telegram bot “Eye of God” for alleged illegal activity that violates privacy rights.

According to Roskomnadzor’s claim, the Telegram bot, which searches online databases for people’s personal information, violates privacy rights “by accessing an indefinite circle of persons’ personal data without their corresponding consent.”

“Eye of God” representative Sergey Kalenik said earlier that though the platform’s founders disagree with the censorship agency’s claims, if the court sides with Roskomnadzor his team will offer alternative solutions “strictly within the framework of the requirements of state bodies.”

While the court’s spokespeople have confirmed that “Eye of God” was banned, MBK Media notes that the press release contains a hyperlink to a “clone” of the Telegram bot and not to “Eye of God” itself.

In its searches, “Eye of God” uses both open sources and databases illegally leaked online. After law enforcement raided Evgeny Antipov’s apartment in April, the “Eye of God” founder told the Telegram-based outlet Baza that the platform had deleted all data that could be used to “look into” members of the security forces.