Russia has attempted to fully block WhatsApp, the messaging service said, in what the company described as an escalation of official pressure on private digital communications. A WhatsApp spokesperson said the move was intended to “drive users to a state-owned surveillance app,” pointing to MAX, a state-supported messenger that has been promoted domestically as an all-in-one platform for chat, payments, and access to government services.
The spokesperson warned that cutting off the app would isolate “over 100 million people” from “private and secure communication,” calling the effort a step that could reduce user safety inside the country. WhatsApp said it would keep working to maintain connectivity for its users despite the restrictions.
While the scale and consistency of disruption can vary depending on networks and circumvention tools, the company’s statement fit a broader pattern in which access to major foreign platforms has become more limited as the government expands technical and legal tools to control online traffic.
Kremlin Links Access to Legal Compliance
Russian officials have framed restrictions on foreign platforms as an issue of compliance with domestic law. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Meta Platforms, the owner of WhatsApp, would need to comply with Russian legal requirements to have the service unblocked, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.
The dispute sits within a longer-running confrontation between Moscow and U.S.-based tech firms, particularly those whose products are used for mass communication. Russia previously restricted or blocked major social platforms, and authorities have increasingly relied on a mix of regulation, enforcement demands, and network-level measures to limit services that do not meet state requirements.
In practice, users have often turned to VPN services to reach blocked platforms, though Russian authorities have also moved to curb many VPN tools, tightening the space for workarounds.
Telegram Restrictions Highlight Broader Push
Alongside pressure on WhatsApp, Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor has signaled or begun new restrictions targeting Telegram, accusing it of failing to fully comply with Russian law. The prospect of throttling or limiting Telegram drew criticism from commentators who argue the service is widely used in day-to-day life and in wartime communications.
Even as officials discussed tightening controls, some analysts noted that Telegram can be a more difficult technical target than WhatsApp, and that early steps did not appear to disrupt service as broadly. Russian experts cited by the AP described a view that blocking WhatsApp could free up technical capacity for authorities to focus more heavily on Telegram.
The Telegram measures have been discussed in the context of earlier actions affecting messaging and calling features across platforms. Prior restrictions and technical slowdowns have been publicly justified as tied to fraud prevention or security concerns, while critics argue the cumulative effect is to narrow independent channels for information sharing.
State-Backed MAX and the “Sovereign Internet” Drive
The state-backed MAX app has become a central part of Moscow’s messaging strategy, promoted as a “national” alternative that combines chat, payments, and government services. Critics and independent observers have argued that MAX’s design choices could make it easier for authorities to access user information, including because it is described as cooperating with official data requests and lacks end-to-end encryption, according to experts cited by the AP.
The latest moves also follow years of broader digital restrictions under President Vladimir Putin, including laws and enforcement actions intended to monitor and shape the online environment. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, authorities have increased limits on online platforms and tightened control of information flows, while also investing in systems that can filter, reroute, and block traffic at scale.
Beyond messaging apps, Russia has previously blocked or restricted services such as YouTube and imposed limits on encrypted or foreign communications tools, such as Signal and Viber. In December, authorities imposed restrictions on Apple’s FaceTime video-calling service, according to AP reporting.
