Russia may block the use of WhatsApp in 2025 if the application’s management does not comply with the country’s laws.
In 2022, Meta was added to the list of terrorist and extremist organizations by the Russian Ministry of the Interior. Daniel Felipe Kutepov/SOPA Images/Shutterstock, EPA/AOP
Russia may block the use of the instant messaging service Whatsapp in 2025, reports Kyiv Independent citing the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
Russian senator Artem Sheikin according to the matter depends on whether the managers of the application comply with Russian laws.
Whatsapp is the only application of parent company Meta that has not yet been blocked in Russia. In the past, access to Facebook and Instagram, among other things, has been blocked in Russia. In 2022, Meta was added to the list of terrorist and extremist organizations by the country’s Ministry of the Interior. In 2023, Meta’s director of communications was added to the same list Andy Stone. The company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on the list since April 2022.
On December 19, Whatsapp was added to the registry of data brokers, which obliges it to retain user data and hand it over at the request of Russian authorities. The future of the application in Russia will be determined by how its management reacts to Russia’s demands regarding the retention of user data and messages and their handing over to the Russian security authorities.
– If the application does not meet certain requirements and obligations, the probability of blocking may increase, Sheikin said.
The US think tank Institute for the Study of War reported in his report already last September that Russia is considering banning Whatsapp. Members of the Duma and the Federal Council proposed banning the messaging service as part of a broader initiative aimed at strengthening the Kremlin’s grip on Russian communications.