{"id":15537,"date":"2026-02-12T11:56:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/whatsapp-is-now-fully-blocked-in-russia\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T11:56:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:56:32","slug":"whatsapp-is-now-fully-blocked-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/whatsapp-is-now-fully-blocked-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp is now fully blocked in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">After warnings from lawmakers last year, WhatsApp has been blocked in Russia for as many as 100 million users, the <em>Financial Times<\/em> reported. Russian authorities removed the app from an online directory, effectively wiping it from Russia&rsquo;s internet. The government has previously said that it wants users to switch to an app called Max, an unencrypted WeChat clone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&ldquo;Today the Russian government has attempted to fully block WhatsApp in an effort to drive users to a state-owned surveillance app,&rdquo; Meta told the <em>FT<\/em> in a statement. &ldquo;Trying to isolate over 100 million people from private and secure communication is a backwards step and can only lead to less safety for people in Russia.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The Russian government deleted WhatsApp rival Telegram yesterday, while also erasing Meta apps Facebook and Instagram. YouTube access was also reportedly degraded, though it&rsquo;s not clear if the app has been completely removed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_1m1ctccilfaiv5tilbH1_\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_2m1ctccilfaiv5tilbH1_\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">In July 2025, a Russian lawmaker who regulates the IT industry said it&rsquo;s very likely that WhatsApp would be placed on a list of restricted software. Parent Meta has been designated as an extremist organization in Russia, and last year Vladimir Putin issued a directive for the nation to further restrict communication apps originating from &ldquo;unfriendly countries&rdquo; that have sanctioned Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The state has said that an in-house app would protect citizens from fraud and terrorism, given the large number of scammers on WhatsApp in the nation. However, restrictions on Telegram haven&rsquo;t gone over well domestically, even among Putin&rsquo;s allies, as residents along Ukraine&rsquo;s borders have relied on it for drone and missile alerts. &ldquo;I am concerned that slowing Telegram could affect the flow of&nbsp;information, if the situation deteriorates,&rdquo; said the governor of one of those regions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><sub>WhatsApp is now fully blocked in Russia<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After warnings from lawmakers last year, WhatsApp has been blocked in Russia for as many as 100 million users, the Financial Times reported. Russian authorities removed the app from an online directory, effectively wiping it from Russia&rsquo;s internet. The government has previously said that it wants users to switch to an app called Max, an&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/whatsapp-is-now-fully-blocked-in-russia\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;WhatsApp is now fully blocked in Russia&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}