WhatsApp criticized Russia’s decision to ban the messaging app, saying the move would cut over 100 million users from “private and secure” communication, and could also lead to “less safety” for people in the country.
Russia on Thursday announced that it is blocking foreign social media platform WhatsApp, and plans to restrict Telegram as well, in order to promote its homegrown “super-app” called Max, which is modeled after China’s WeChat.
“Today the Russian government attempted to fully block WhatsApp in an effort to drive people to a state-owned surveillance app,” the platform said in an
WhatsApp further added that “trying to isolate over 100 million users from private and secure communication is a backward step and can only lead to less safety for people in Russia”. It also further assured that the company will continue to do everything possible to keep users connected.
“Such a decision was indeed made and implemented,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday when asked about the reported ban, as per news agency. AFP.
What did Telegram say?
On Tuesday, Russia also announced that it has now started restricting access to Telegram, which is one of Moscow’s most popular social media platforms, citing that personal data of citizens is not protected on the platform.
Moscow also added that the messaging platform is taking no measures to counter fraud or the use of the platform for criminal and terrorist purposes.
In a statement released the same day, the messaging platform’s Russia-born founder, Pavel Durov, said the country’s attempt to restrict the platform would fail, adding that the platform stands for freedom of speech and privacy, no matter the pressure.
More countries are going domestic
With the new app, Moscow is aiming to tighten its control over the country’s digital and internet ecosystem, as part of a broader push to regulate how information flows online.
This is not the first time a nation has banned or restricted foreign applications over security and data concerns. Just last month, France also announced a plan to ditch American video-meeting platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom with a domestically developed alternative.
France’s decision to phase out US-based platforms came as it decided to replace them with a homegrown platform, known as Visio, which will be fully implemented in government agencies by 2027. Visio will handle conferencing with data hosted on French provider Outscale, and transcripts or subtitles managed by local firms.
