Russia restricts WhatsApp and Telegram calls in push to control internet

Russia has started restricting some calls on WhatsApp and Telegram, clamping down on the popular foreign-owned encrypted messaging platforms as it pushes for more control over internet use.

The country’s digital watchdog claimed that the encrypted messaging apps are being used for “sabotage and terrorist activities,” accusing the foreign-owned tech firms of ignoring demands to share information with law enforcement authorities, according to a statement provided to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Meta denied the claims, saying in a statement Wednesday that WhatsApp “defies government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication, which is why Russia is trying to block it from over 100 million Russian people.”

“We’re deeply concerned that blocking WhatsApp aims to take away the right to private and secure communication and push people in Russia onto less secure services to enable government surveillance,” the company said.

Telegram did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In 2018, Moscow attempted to block Telegram after the app’s refusal to grant Russian security services access to users’ encrypted messages, but the ban was largely ineffective.

Russian authorities have long cracked down on online forms of dissent by tightening control over the internet. The latest restrictions follow the passage of controversial legislation in July that dramatically expanded the government’s powers to punish internet users for not only sharing prohibited content, but also for looking it up.

The tit-for-tat between Western tech companies and Moscow sharply escalated after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The next month, Russia announced it would block Facebook access, seeking to classify its parent company Meta as an extremist organization, though WhatsApp was allowed to remain.

The move coincided with YouTube’s decision to block the channels of Russian state media outlets globally. In late 2024, Russian citizens lost access to YouTube, the last major Western social platform freely available in the country.

In Russia, accessing popular social media platforms is almost impossible without a virtual private network, or VPN, which lets users bypass government blocks. A recent Human Rights Watch report estimated that “about half of the country’s population does not know how to use a VPN.”

That is pushing internet users onto Russian browsers and social media, where they are given “state approved interpretations of current and historic events,” Human Rights Watch said, and face the risk of having their personal data shared with law enforcement officials.

Russia’s state telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, claimed Wednesday that WhatsApp and Telegram “have become the main voice services used for deceit and extortion” as Moscow cracks down on fraudulent calls on traditional phone networks.

Meta has banned more than 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts linked to scam operations this year, and said Wednesday that it continues to add fraud protections to its messaging app, including a feature to silence unknown callers and “protect people from unwanted contact.”