Russia threatens blocking WhatsApp amid intensifying censorship clash

Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, is threatening to impose new restrictions on WhatsApp for supposedly failing to comply with new requirements.

Russia is accusing WhatsApp of failing to share information with law enforcement authorities in cases involving fraud and terrorism.

“WhatsApp continues to violate Russian law. The messenger is used to organize and carry out terrorist actions on the territory of the country, to recruit their perpetrators, for fraudulent and other crimes against our citizens,” a spokesperson of Roskomnadzor told state news agency Interfax in a statement.

The media regulator continued by saying that WhatsApp “does not comply with the requirements aimed at preventing and suppressing the commission of crimes on the territory of Russia.”

Therefore, the agency is consistently introducing restrictive measures against WhatsApp, adding that those restrictions “will continue to expand.”

Roskomnadzor even suggests that WhatsApp will be fully blocked if the company refuses to comply with Russian regulations.

The restrictions are being introduced in stages, allowing users to switch to using other messaging apps. The media regulator is recommending that users switch to the national messaging platform MAX, which was launched earlier this year.

Back in August, Russia restricted WhatsApp’s calling feature. Reuters verified that WhatsApp calls had been rendered impossible due to intermittent sound and a metallic “buzzing” since then. Allegedly, this was the first attempt to persuade citizens to switch to MAX.

In response, WhatsApp pledged to keep its encrypted services available for the millions of Russians using the platform every day.

“WhatsApp is private, end-to-end encrypted, and defies government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication, which is why Russia is trying to block it from over 100 million Russian people,” WhatsApp said back then.

As of writing, Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, hasn’t commented on the situation.

Unlock more exclusive Cybernews content on YouTube.