Russia has moved to “fully block” Meta-owned WhatsApp, according to a company spokesperson, as Moscow intensifies its efforts to promote domestic platforms and tighten its grip on the nation’s internet.
This action comes amid a deepening dispute with foreign technology providers, which escalated following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Authorities in Moscow are actively promoting a state-backed alternative messaging service named ‘MAX’. Critics have voiced concerns that this app could be utilised for user tracking, although these allegations have been dismissed as false by state media.
“Due to Meta’s unwillingness to comply with Russian law, such a decision was indeed made and implemented,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, proposing that Russians switch to MAX, Russia’s state-owned messenger.
“MAX is an accessible alternative, a developing messenger, a national messenger, and it is available on the market for citizens as an alternative,” said Peskov.
WhatsApp itself has characterised the block as Russia’s attempt to funnel users towards a “state-owned surveillance app.”
Meta Russia had already been designated as an extremist organisation, and WhatsApp had complained about what it said was an attempt to fully block its service.
“Today the Russian government attempted to fully block WhatsApp in an effort to drive people to a state-owned surveillance app,” it said in a statement.
“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”.
The Financial Times previously reported that Russian authorities have removed the secure messaging application, which has about 100 million users, from the equivalent of an online directory run by Roskomnadzor, the state’s communications watchdog.
Kremlin did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Last year, Russia began limiting some calls on WhatsApp and messaging service Telegram, accusing foreign-owned platforms of refusing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and terrorism cases.
It also blocked Apple’s video-calling app FaceTime in December.
Telegram’s Russian-born founder Pavel Durov previously said it would remain committed to protecting freedom of speech and user privacy.
Russia has been tightening its control of the internet over the past 12 months.
Mobile phone internet shutdowns have affected dozens of Russian regions, ostensibly thwarting Ukrainian drone attacks.
The impact is profound: credit cards fail for public transport, ATMs disconnect, and parents of diabetic children report being unable to monitor blood glucose levels during outages.
Source: independent.co.uk