CEO Pavel Durov says the attack, which temporarily disrupted Telegram's service, came from mostly Chinese IP addresses.
of the Chinese-ruled city in recent days to protest against an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to the mainland to stand trial.
Activists in both Hong Kong and mainland China, where Telegram is blocked, frequently use the messaging system to organise protests in the hope of evading government surveillance.Telegram CEO Pavel Durov tweeted that the attack - which was aimed at disrupting the service rather than an attempt to steal user data - came from mostly Chinese IP addresses.
"Historically, all state actor-sized [attacks] we experienced coincided in time with protests in Hong Kong [coordinated on @telegram]. This case was not an exception."Telegram detailed the attack in a thread on Twitter, explaining:"We're currently experiencing a powerful DDoS attack. Telegram users in the Americas and some users from other countries may experience connection issues.
"A DDoS is a 'Distributed Denial Of Service attack': your servers get GADZILLIONS of garbage requests which stop them from processing legitimate requests. Imagine that an army of lemmings just jumped the queue at McDonald's in front of you - and each is ordering a Whopper.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
China's extradition law should respect Hong Kong deal, says MayPM voices concern as ministers say proposed changes may breach freedoms agreed in 1997
Read more »
Hong Kong leader criticises 'organised riots'Carrie Lam is backing a controversial bill which has provoked a wave of protest in Hong Kong.
Read more »
Tear gas and armed police - why are people rioting in Hong Kong?'The costs of doing nothing are going to be far greater' - On today's Daily podcast SkyNewsThomas explains how the UK hopes to produce net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. ExtinctionRebellion 🎧 Search Sky News Daily in your podcast app:
Read more »
Hong Kong leader warns more protests will 'make things worse'Police claim they had 'no choice but to use force to stop the riot' as they fired tear gas and pepper spray at demonstrators.
Read more »
Hong Kong protests: government leader Carrie Lam condemns 'blatant riot'Lam, who is championing the controversial extradition bill that sparked the protests, denies she is ‘selling out’ to China
Read more »
Hong Kong protesters taunt Chinese police with British flag as rioting breaks outTHE British flag has been waved in a sign of defiance against police during the Hong Kong protests.
Read more »