WhatsApp said Russia was trying to block its services because the social media messaging app owned by Meta Platforms META.O offered people's right to secure communication, and vowed to continue trying to make encrypted services available in Russia.
Russia has started restricting some Telegram and WhatsApp calls, accusing the foreign-owned platforms of failing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and terrorism cases.
"WhatsApp is private, end-to-end encrypted, and defies government attempts to violate people's right to secure communication, which is why Russia is trying to block it from over 100 million Russian people," WhatsApp said in a statement.
"We will keep doing all we can to make end-to-end encrypted communication available to people everywhere, including in Russia."
Russia has clashed with foreign tech platforms for several years over content and data storage in a simmering dispute that intensified after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with critics saying that Russia is trying to expand its control over the country's internet space.
President Vladimir Putin has authorised the development of a state-backed messaging app integrated with government services, as Moscow seeks to establish what it calls digital sovereignty by promoting home-grown services and reducing its dependence on platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
"In order to counteract criminals... measures are being taken to partially restrict calls on these foreign messengers," the Interfax news agency quoted communications regulator Roskomnadzor as saying.
"No other restrictions have been imposed on their functionality."
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A teacher who was stabbed by a student fascinated by "Nazi ideologies" in a middle school in northeastern France is in stable condition, the French education minister told reporters on Wednesday.
A shooter killed at least one person and wounded others in a shooting on Wednesday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, local and federal authorities said.
Iran has no intention to build nuclear weapons, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, just days before international sanctions could be reimposed on his country over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Kabul’s groundwater is falling to record lows, pushing many residents to buy drinking water from mobile tankers, according to the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW).
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
A teacher who was stabbed by a student fascinated by "Nazi ideologies" in a middle school in northeastern France is in stable condition, the French education minister told reporters on Wednesday.
A shooter killed at least one person and wounded others in a shooting on Wednesday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, local and federal authorities said.
Iran has no intention to build nuclear weapons, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, just days before international sanctions could be reimposed on his country over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Kabul’s groundwater is falling to record lows, pushing many residents to buy drinking water from mobile tankers, according to the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW).
The military-led West African countries Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have announced their withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, denouncing it as "a tool of neo-colonial repression."
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