Russian regulator warns it could fully block WhatsApp amid fresh reports of outages

Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor has acknowledged widespread outages affecting the WhatsApp messaging service on Monday and said it is prepared to block the app in the country completely, according to state-linked Russian media.

The speed of WhatsApp traffic fell by 70–80% on Monday as part of a phased restriction on the service imposed by the watchdog, business daily RBC wrote, citing sources in the Russian telecoms market.

In a statement reported by the Moskva news agency, Roskomnadzor said that unless WhatsApp met the requirements of Russian legislation, it was ready to impose a full ban. The regulator said WhatsApp had been used “to organise and conduct terrorist acts” and to commit fraud against Russian citizens, according to the TASS news agency.

The latest measures come amid a broader campaign by the Kremlin against foreign-owned messaging platforms, as authorities seek to promote MAX, a state-backed messenger and “super app”. Critics have raised concerns that the new government-approved service could record users’ online activity and be made available to the authorities on request.

Calls on Telegram, which Russian authorities also consider a foreign-owned messenger, and WhatsApp were limited in August, while Apple’s FaceTime was fully blocked earlier this month.

Roskomnadzor’s claims that WhatsApp does not comply with Russian law likely refer to the app’s end-to-end encryption, which prevents security services from accessing messages sent via the app.

“The restrictions are being introduced in stages, allowing users to switch to other messaging apps. We recommend switching to national services,” the regulator said in November.

WhatsApp, which has around 97 million users in Russia, has not commented on the latest restrictions.