MOSCOW: The authorities are restricting calls in the Telegram and WhatsApp messengers in Russia to protect citizens, the press service of...
MOSCOW: The authorities are restricting calls in the Telegram and WhatsApp messengers in Russia to protect citizens, the press service of the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications, Roskomnadzor, told TASS. No other functions of these messengers are being restricted, the watchdog added.
In turn, the Ministry of Digital Development allowed the restoration of access to call services in these messengers if their owners comply with the requirements of the Russian law.
TASS has assembled the main information about the situation.
On restrictions
- The Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor announced that it is partially restricting calls in Telegram and WhatsApp messengers to counter criminals.
- No other restrictions on the messengers’ functionality are being introduced.
- Access to calls in foreign messengers will be restored after they comply with the requirements of Russian legislation, the Ministry of Digital Development said.
- Limiting voice calls in foreign messengers is aimed at reducing the number of scam calls, according to Roskomnadzor.
Reasons for restrictions
- As Roskomnadzor noted, according to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services for deceiving and extorting money from Russians, and also for enlisting them in sabotage and terrorist activities.
- Russia launched its Antifraud system in 2024. This system blocks calls with spoofed numbers in conventional telephone networks of Russian telecom operators.
As a result, almost all such calls have moved to foreign messengers, which refuse to ensure the safety of Russian users and society, the watchdog stressed.
- The share of Russians attacked by fraudsters in WhatsApp has increased 3.5 times since 2024, Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications and federal coordinator of the Digital Russia project of the United Russia party, told TASS.
- WhatsApp still refuses to localize Russians' data and generally does not comply with the requirements of Russian legislation, Nemkin stressed.
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