Telegram, the messaging app ISIS used, shrouded in secrecy

Washington

AN encrypted communications app called Telegram has been in the news a lot this week, amid fears that the Islamic State has adopted it as its preferred platform for messaging.

On Nov 18, Telegram reportedly banned 78 ISIS-related channels, "disturbed" to learn how popular the app had become among extremists. Those extremists had used the app both to spread propaganda, according to an October report, and to crowdfund money for guns and rockets, according to media and technology website Vocativ.

Telegram makes an obvious choice for both activities: In media interviews and on his website, the app's founder - Pavel Durov, often called the "Zuckerberg of Russia" - has boasted that…