Russia limits WhatsApp use, claiming it enables terrorism, crime, espionage

Russia has restricted access to WhatsApp for many users, warning that the messaging service could face a nationwide block unless it complies with domestic regulations — the latest step in Moscow’s widening crackdown on Western technology.

WhatsApp users in Moscow and St. Petersburg reported late last week that messages were failing to send and that photos and videos were loading slowly. As of Monday, some users were still experiencing disruptions, though the issues appeared less widespread.

Russia’s state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said it had imposed “restrictive measures” on WhatsApp, accusing the platform of repeatedly violating Russian law.

According to the agency, WhatsApp was being used “to organise and carry out terrorist activities, to recruit perpetrators, as well as for fraud and other crimes against Russian citizens.” It urged Russians to switch to domestic alternatives and reiterated that the service could be fully blocked if it does not comply with legal demands.

On Monday, senior lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said Russia’s latest action against WhatsApp was triggered in part by an alleged leak of high-level diplomatic calls involving Yuri Ushakov, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, U.S. businessman and Donald Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, and Kremlin investment official Kirill Dmitriev.

Ushakov told the newspaper Kommersant that some of his conversations took place on encrypted government channels but suggested the calls with Dmitriev and Witkoff may have been held over WhatsApp. “There are certain conversations on WhatsApp that, generally speaking, someone might somehow be able to listen to,” he said.

In a Telegram post, Gorelkin argued the incident showed that WhatsApp’s owners “not only turn a blind eye” to illegal activity on the platform but “actively participate” in it.

WhatsApp has not commented on the alleged leak or on Russia’s new restrictions. Meta, which owns WhatsApp, had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Pressure on WhatsApp has intensified since August 2025, when Russia barred voice calls on both WhatsApp and Telegram, claiming the services had become key tools for cybercriminals and saboteurs. WhatsApp said at the time that the move was an effort to push Russians toward “less secure services to enable government surveillance.”

The new measures come amid a broader campaign by Russia to tighten control over digital communications and curb the use of foreign technology. In October, the country’s antitrust authority ordered Apple to set a Russian search engine such as Yandex or Mail.ru as the default on devices sold in the country, accusing the U.S. firm of violating consumer-protection rules.

Earlier this year, Russia blocked access to Speedtest, a widely used network-testing tool developed by U.S. firm Ookla, saying it posed a national-security risk. Most major Western platforms — including Facebook, Instagram and Discord — are already inaccessible in Russia without a VPN. In June, restrictions targeting websites protected by U.S. internet-infrastructure provider Cloudflare caused significant disruptions to domestic web traffic.

The homegrown alternatives include a new state-backed messenger called Max, which aims to become a national communication platform modeled on China’s highly integrated WeChat.