[Translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"Authorities are preparing to kick WhatsApp out of Russia. Which apps will be included in the 'unfriendly' list and will Russians switch to the Max messenger?", 21 July 2025

"It's time for WhatsApp to prepare to leave the Russian market," this is how Anton Gorelkin, a United Russia deputy and deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, began his post on Telegram. He is confident that WhatsApp will soon disappear from Russia.

"The messenger belonging to the extremist organization Meta is very likely to be included in the list of software from unfriendly countries subject to restrictions, which the Russian government is developing on the instructions of the president. According to statistics, WhatsApp is currently used daily by 68% of our citizens, with Telegram in second place in terms of daily reach with 55%," Gorelkin wrote.

Meta also owns Instagram and Facebook. A Russian court banned them at the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. As for WhatsApp, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that it needs to comply with Russian laws:

"WhatsApp is generally the most popular service in many countries, including the Russian Federation. It is the number one service in popularity. And, like all services, of course, there are certain obligations in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. All laws must be followed."

Deputy Gorelkin said that instead of WhatsApp, Russians will be offered to use a national messenger called Max. Registration in it will take place through "Gosuslugi", which indicates control by the state. Integration with other state services is also promised. Experts note that law enforcement agencies may also have access to personal correspondence in such a messenger.

The list of software from "unfriendly" countries that Gorelkin is talking about is being developed by the Russian government after Vladimir Putin's meeting with businessmen in late May 2025, at which the Russian president called for "strangling" foreign services...

At this meeting, Putin ordered that restrictions on software from so-called "unfriendly" countries be tightened and stated that they allegedly hinder the development of the Russian IT sector.

It is not clear from Putin's order which foreign communications services will be included in the list. The government's list must be ready by September 2025...

"Although neither WhatsApp (owned by Meta) nor Telegram comply (at least officially) with the Russian authorities' demand to localize Russian users' data, the messengers did not leave Russia after February 2022 and did not restrict the rights of Russian users. In addition, the UAE, where Telegram is registered, is not on the list of unfriendly countries"...