Photo: Hayoung Jeon / EPA-EFE

Russia may block the WhatsApp messenger in 2025, Russian senator Artyom Sheykin told state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday.

WhatsApp’s blocking in Russia will become more likely if the platform refuses to provide information about its users to Russia’s security services, Sheykin said, stressing that “foreign companies need to comply with [Russian] legislation, otherwise their work will be impossible”.

WhatsApp is currently being used by “extremist and terrorist organisations”, while its management refuses to cooperate with Russian security agencies, Oleg Matveychev, a deputy in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, told state-affiliated newspaper Parlamentskaya Gazeta on Monday.

Matveychev said that the Russian authorities would see whether WhatsApp would be “ready to cooperate” before blocking it, adding: “We have made our move, now the ball is in WhatsApp’s court.”

On 19 December, Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor added WhatsApp and Skype to a register that obliged the apps to store their users’ data in Russia and hand it over to law enforcement agencies.

Russia has already blocked popular messaging app Viber for “violations” of the country’s anti-terror legislation, while popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X have been inaccessible in Russia without a VPN since the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

State-affiliated newspaper Kommersant reported on Tuesday that the Russian authorities were considering either blocking all calls from foreign users in popular messengers, or banning all voice calls altogether due to a sharp rise in scam calls, about 70% of which were received from abroad.