Russia is putting increasing pressure on WhatsApp and Telegram

Internet outages and telecommunications restrictions are becoming increasingly common in Russia . Russian authorities justify this with the need to protect the population from drone attacks from Ukraine, as well as to protect against cybercrime. According to the Digital Ministry in Moscow, the restrictions will be lifted as soon as foreign messenger services comply with Russian law.

Whatsapp: Secure communication is a human right

WhatsApp 's press service responded to the announcement: " WhatsApp is private, end-to-end encrypted, and stands up to governments when they try to restrict the human right to secure communication. This is precisely why Russia wants to deprive more than 100 million people of this right. We continue to strive to provide end-to-end encrypted communication for people around the world, including Russia."

Telegram's press office assured the Russian online provider RBK (RBK) that the communications provider is actively combating "harmful content, fraud, calls for sabotage, and violence" and "deletes millions of such content every day." The messaging service added, "For the first time, there are detailed privacy settings, which is why every Telegram user can decide whose calls can be answered and which should be deactivated."

National messenger Max is still lagging behind

According to the statistics website Mediascope (as of July 2025), WhatsApp, with approximately 97.5 million users, and Telegram , with approximately 90.8 million users, are the two most popular messaging services in Russia. The third-placed Russian messaging service VK, which is part of the Russian social network Vkontakte, has only 17.9 million registered accounts.

Russia's new messenger app MAX — So far, one million people have registered with Max. Image: DW

Russia's government aims to replace popular foreign messaging services with a national messenger. President Vladimir Putin signed a corresponding law in early June. According to reports, VK's new chat app, Max, will take over this function. At the end of June, Max's press service reported one million registrations. On the day the restrictions on calling functions on both WhatsApp and Telegram were announced, the messaging service, Max, became the most popular app by number of downloads, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

me/haz (RTRE, TASS, Interfax, Mediascope, Meduza)