The North American messaging application WhatsApp, owned by Meta, was completely blocked in Russia for not complying with local legislation, the Kremlin reported this Thursday (12), suggesting that Russians start using a “national instant messaging application” supported by the State.
“Due to Meta’s reluctance to comply with Russian legislation, this decision was in fact taken and implemented,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, proposing that Russians switch to MAX, Russia’s state-owned messaging app.
“MAX is an affordable alternative, a developing messenger, a national messenger, and is available on the market for citizens as an alternative,” Peskov stated.
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Critics say the MAX is a surveillance tool, something authorities deny.
The measure against WhatsApp is the culmination of six months of pressure on the North American company and reflects a broader wartime initiative by Russian authorities to create and control a communications infrastructure in which foreign technology companies submit to local laws or disappear.
Meta Russia had previously been designated as an extremist organization, and WhatsApp had complained about what it saw as an attempt to block its service entirely.
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“Today, the Russian government attempted to block WhatsApp entirely in an effort to get people to use a state-run surveillance app,” it said in a statement.
“Trying to isolate more than 100 million users from private and secure communication is a step backwards and can only lead to less security for people in Russia.”
Some domain names associated with WhatsApp have disappeared from Russia’s national domain name registry, meaning devices within Russia have stopped receiving their IP addresses from the app and that it can only be accessed using a virtual private network (VPN).
Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russian authorities, who also block or restrict social media platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, have heavily promoted MAX, which critics say could be used to track users.
Authorities have dismissed these accusations as false and claim that MAX, which integrates several government-related services, is designed to simplify and improve citizens’ everyday lives.
