"The fate of WhatsApp in Russia is a foregone conclusion"

The deputies again predicted the application of the application. We recall how the attitude of the Russian authorities towards the messenger changed over these three years

On July 18, the deputy head of the State Duma IT Committee Anton Gorelkin said that "WhatsApp is time to prepare for leaving the Russian market." This is not the first such statement from the Russian authorities. After the ban on Meta, which owns the messenger, the rhetoric of deputies has repeatedly changed against WhatsApp. Despite this, the messenger continues to work in Russia.

Novyevropa publishes chronology of the authorities to WhatsApp in recent years.

Preparation for market care

The deputy head of the IT State Duma IT Anton Gorelkin wrote in his telegram channel, then whatsApp "with a very high degree of probability will be on the list of non-divine countries subject to restrictions that the Russian government is developing on behalf of the president."

The deputy indicated that now, according to statistics, whatsApp in daily mode use 68% of Russians, and Telegram from 55% in second place is in second place. As MediaScope calculated in April 2025, 79% of the population of Russia over 12 years old is using whatsApp in total, this is more than 97 million people. Every day, more than 81 million people enter this messenger. According to these data, WhatsApp remains the most popular messenger in Russia.

At the same time, Gorelkin pointed out that the jurisdiction of Telegram remains not completely clear: the British Virgin Islands are indicated in the register of RKN, but the main office of Pavel Durov’s company is “in the Arab Emirates completely friendly to us”.

“Personally, I believe that Telegram will not fall into the same list, especially if it fulfills the requirements of Russian legislation and prove its desire to survive in the market,” the deputy said.

He also expressed the opinion that the Max National Max Messenger from VK will be a candidate for WhatsApp.

In response to the statements of Gorelkin, the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov confirmed that "WhatsApp is the most popular service in many countries, including in the Russian Federation."

“Like all services, of course, he has certain duties in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. All laws must be implemented, ”he emphasized .

Applications of the authorities

2022

Over the past few years, the attitude of the Russian authorities towards WhatsApp has changed repeatedly. In March 2022, the Tver court in the lawsuit of the Prosecutor General’s Office recognized Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, an “extremist organization” and banned its activities in Russia. The reason, as the GP wrote, was that "in the light of events in Ukraine, the company temporarily removes in its social networks a ban for residents of a number of countries to post information containing violence against Russian citizens, including military personnel." At the same time, the court emphasized that the decision does not apply to the WhatsApp messenger. Only Instagram and Facebook were blocked in Russia. In November 2022, the Ministry of Justice introduced Meta Platforms to the register of extremist organizations.

In the summer of 2022, WhatsApp was fined several times for 18 million rubles for refusing to localize the data of Russian users in Russia ( the first fine was discharged back in August 2021, and the third - in February 2025. - approx. Ed. ).

In November of the same year, Kommersant, citing a source, wrote that Russian officials will be obliged to conduct working correspondence in the domestic messenger from VK. Then the head of the Ministry of Civil Code of the Russian Federation Maksut Shadaev specified that the authorities are not going to ban foreign messengers for personal communication:

- Where the information that the employees of state -owned companies exchange is valuable from the point of view of the state, there will be a limitation for working communications.

This does not mean that some foreign messengers will be prohibited for personal communication. For working communication, of course, working tools should be used, this is a matter of cybergigiege.

2023

In the summer of 2023, WhatsApp presented the function of channels inside the messenger. Deputy Anton Gorelkin then noted that "the manufacturers and distributors of fakes and propaganda will soon have a new wonderful tool."

“WhatsApp does everything to get access to the audience and in which case they could evade responsibility. Considering that the owner of the messenger is an extremist and not hiding in the Russian Federation and not hiding his relations with the American security forces, META can easily imagine which channels and with what content they will soon become available to the Russian audience, ”he wrote.

He also emphasized that although the Prosecutor General’s Office did not prohibit the messenger, “it is interesting to him whether this decision will be revised, taking into account new circumstances.” He also said that "he had long stopped sending any documents to WhatsApp and Telegram - instead of them I use VK messenger."

After that, Shadaev said that the issue of blocking in the Russian Federation WhatsApp is currently not discussed and there are no prerequisites for blocking at present. ”

2024

In July 2024, the work of the messenger slowed down in Dagestan due to the calls to participate in “extremist actions” ( attacks on Orthodox churches, synagogues and police posts in Makhachkala and Derbent. - Ed. ).

“WhatsApp administrations were sent to stop the distribution of calls to participate in extremist shares, but they were ignored,” TASS reported .

Deputy Alexander Khinshtein later explained that "there is no decision to block the WhatsApp messenger in Russia." On the same day, in the RIA Novosti commentary, he reminded that “WhatsApp has repeatedly violated and continues to violate the legislation of our country - the courts regularly fined the company for failure to fulfill the rules of work in the Russian Federation.”

“Sooner or later, if the administration of the messenger does not change its behavior, the patience of the state will end, and WhatsApp may be comprehended by the fate of the entire META,” the parliamentarian said .

The next day, the deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Andrei Svintsov, noted that "the question is not so much on the scale of harm [from the violations of WhatsApp legislation of the Russian Federation], but in the application of the laws that we adopt."

“Today the harm can be not very noticeable, although we may not know about it. A huge number of documents, sensitive correspondence are stored on the servers, is unknown where.

From the point of view of the security of the state as a whole, of course, WhatsApp brings a serious threat, and the huge amount of information that is available to Western special services today is just rotating within this messenger.

As for blocking WhatsApp, I believe that such a decision can be made, ”he said.

In September 2024, the discussion of channels in WhatsApp resumed. Gorelkin pointed out that "if the product of the extremist company META begins to expand the functionality towards the mass distribution of information, the official position regarding its activities in the Russian Federation can be revised." Hinstein also supported his position. In Roskomnadzor, it was also noted that "the appearance of unfriendly channels with prohibited information will immediately entail the requirement to delete them and in case of refusal - blocking." Later, citing sources, it became known that due to the threat of blocking the messenger refused to launch the channels in Russia.

On December 19, Roskomnadzor introduced WhatsApp to the register of information distribution organizers. After that, the deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Oleg Matveychev, noted that WhatsApp does not have any contact with Russian law enforcement agencies.

“They regularly create an extremist chat, recruit people. Therefore, we need to do something with this, and we must see how much this service will be ready for cooperation, given that no one asks for this structure about serious changes in moderation. We took our step, now the ball is on the WhatsApp side, ”the deputy said .

He was supported by leads, indicating that "WhatsApp and Viber are a thing of the past, especially against the backdrop of the popularity of Telegram." He emphasized that Russia "does not faint from anyone, but only protects its safety." Senator Artem Sheikin alsosaid that "if the messenger does not fulfill certain requirements and obligations, the probability of blocking may increase."

“The development of the situation with WhatsApp in Russia in 2025 will depend on the position of the messenger’s leadership on the issue of storing information about users and correspondence and providing it at the request of the FSB,” he said.

2025

On May 30, 2025, the head of the State Duma Committee on Inform Policy, Sergei Boyarsky, said that "the emergence of a national messenger is designed to competently displace the use of unsafe foreign messengers in favor of a more modern, functional, domestic."

“We create new opportunities, not prohibitions. WhatsApp and telegrams can continue to function and live their age, but now provided that the requirements of our laws are unconditional. They will not be able to ignore them anymore, taking advantage of the fact that they have no replacement, ”he said.

On June 1, 2025, a law prohibiting civilians, banks and communication operators to use foreign messengers, including WhatsApp, to communicate with clients, entered into force in Russia.

Already after Gorelkin’s statement about preparing for WhatsApp from Russia, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Anton Nemkin said that “the WhatsApp fate in Russia has been a foregone conclusion”.

“The presence of such a service in the digital space of Russia is, in fact, a legal gap in national security. That is why its inclusion in the list of programs from unfriendly jurisdictions subject to restrictions is a matter of time, ”he emphasized.

According to him, the authorities “cannot close their eyes” to the fact that Russians transfer their data through the platform “under the control of the hostile structure”. He also noted that in recent years, WhatsApp has not taken a single step towards.