A Russian legislator who regulates the country on Friday that WhatsApp should prepare to leave the Russian market and warns that the Messages app would probably be placed on a list of limited software.
Anton Gorelkin, deputy head of the information technology committee of the Lower House of Parliament, said in a statement that Max, a State-supported Message app integrated with government services, could get market share as WhatsApp, who is owned by Meta, left the country.
“It is time for WhatsApp to prepare to leave the Russian market,” said Gorelkin, adding that Meta is being designated as an extremist organization in Russia.
Facebook and Instagram, both also owned by Meta, have been banned in Russia since 2022, when Moscow launched his invasion of Ukraine in a war that continues.
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A Russian legislator who regulates the country said that whatsapp must prepare to leave the Russian market. (Reuters)
Gorelkin made his comments after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law last month that allowed Max’s development, since Russia wants to reduce dependence on platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
The Russian legislators approved radical legal changes this week and proposed fines of a maximum of 5,000 rubles, or $ 63, for anyone looking for material online that the government regards as extremist, including Instagram and Facebook, and opposition politics and activists.
The proposal led to criticism, including some Kremlin financiers such as Margarita Simonyan, a media director who said that journalists would not be able to investigate the activities of opposition groups such as the anti-corruption fund founded by deceased opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
Anton Nemkin, a member of the IT committee of Parliament, said it was established that WhatsApp would leave Russia.
“The presence of such a service in the digital space of Russia is in fact a legal infringement of national security,” said Nemkin, according to Tass, a State news agency.
Anton Nemkin, a member of the IT committee of Parliament, said it was established that WhatsApp would leave Russia. (Getty Images)
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that all services should follow the Russian law when asked if WhatsApp can leave the country.
Russia has long tried to determine what it describes as digital sovereignty by promoting home soil services.
But critics have expressed concern that the new Message app of the State, supported by the Russia, can follow the activities of its users and has suggested that Russia could slow down the speeds of WhatsApp to encourage downloads from the new app.
YouTube in Russia has considerably decreased in Russia to less than 10 million daily users of more than 40 million in mid -2024, because lower download speeds have made it harder for people to gain access to the video platform.
Shares in State -controlled technology company VK, which develops home soil digital services, such as VK Video, a rival of YouTube, grew 1.9%on Friday.
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President Vladimir Putin signed a law that has authorized the development of a State-App supported by the State that are integrated with government services. (Sergei Bobylyov/Pool/AFP via Getty images)
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This week, the Kremlin released a list of instructions from Putin, including a guideline to introduce extra restrictions in Russia of software, including communication services produced in “unfriendly countries” that have imposed sanctions against Russia.
Putin gave a deadline of 1 September.
Referring to Putin’s order, Gorelkin said that WhatsApp would probably be one of the communication services to enter into new limitations.
Reuters has contributed to this report.
