Moscow : Russia has fully blocked US-based messaging platform WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, over what the Kremlin described as the company’s failure to comply with local laws. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the decision on Thursday, saying the government had implemented the block because of Meta’s non-compliance. MAX is an accessible alternative, a developing messenger, a national messenger, and it is available on the market for citizens as an alternative, he said.
Officials say the platform integrates various government-related services and aims to simplify citizens’ daily lives. The move follows six months of mounting pressure on WhatsApp and reflects Moscow’s broader effort, particularly during wartime, to establish what it calls a “sovereign” communications infrastructure. Under this framework, foreign technology companies must comply with Russian laws or face removal from the market. Meta Russia has already been designated as an extremist organisation. WhatsApp earlier complained that authorities were attempting to fully block its service.
Trying to isolate over 100 million users from private and secure communication is a backwards step and can only lead to less safety for people in Russia. Following the latest measures, some domain names associated with WhatsApp disappeared from Russia’s national register of domain names. As a result, devices inside Russia stopped receiving the app’s IP addresses, making access possible only through a virtual private network (VPN). Authorities had already restricted WhatsApp and other messenger services in August, blocking users from completing phone calls on the platforms.
In December, Roskomnadzor said it was taking additional steps to gradually restrict WhatsApp. The regulator accused the app of continuing to violate Russian law and of being used “to organise and carry out terrorist acts on the territory of the country, to recruit their perpetrators and to commit fraud and other crimes. Russian courts have repeatedly fined WhatsApp for failing to delete banned content. Authorities have also insisted that the company open a local representative office in Russia to comply with the law, which it has not done.
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