State Duma plans to ban WhatsApp Messenger
WhatsApp Messenger is "very likely" to be included in the list of software from unfriendly countries that will be restricted in Russia. This was stated by Anton Gorelkin, first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on information policy, information technologies and telecommunications, in his Telegram channel. "It's time for WhatsApp to get ready to leave the Russian market," he wrote.
WhatsApp is owned by Meta, whose activities in Russia have been declared extremist and have been banned since 2022. The government has been instructed by President Vladimir Putin to put forward proposals to restrict "telecommunication services" from unfriendly states by 1 September.
According to Mediascope research company, as cited by RBC, the monthly number of WhatsApp users in Russia in April 2025 was 97.4 million, or 79.2% of the population over 12 years old. This figure places the messaging app as number one in Russia among all Internet services.
WhatsApp's average daily reach in the same period among the Russian audience was 84.4 million, or 68.6%. By comparison, the second highest-ranking social network VKontakte had a monthly reach of 93.8 million and an average daily reach of 59.2 million in April. Telegram, in third place, had a monthly reach of 90.5 million and an average daily reach of 68.3 million.
Gorelkin points out in his post that WhatsApp is now used by 68% of Russians on a daily basis, while Telegram ranks second in terms of daily reach with 55%.
At the same time, Telegram's country of jurisdiction "remains not entirely clear," the lawmaker notes, as Roskomnadzor's registry lists the British Virgin Islands as its country of registration, but the head office of Pavel Durov's company is located in the UAE, which is "quite friendly" to Russia. According to Gorelkin, Telegram will not fall under the restrictions, "especially if it meets Russian legal requirements and proves its desire to remain on the market".
Earlier, the media reported that Telegram had started the procedure of creating a Russian representative office pursuant to the "Landing Law." Vedomosti wrote that, according to the register of Roskomnadzor, the issue is at the approval stage. However, a representative of the regulator refused to confirm this information to the publication, and the date of the change in the status of the company's fulfilment of obligations to create a branch in Russia is uncertain.
Later, Pavel Durov published a post which the media interpreted as denial of the news that he was opening an office in Russia.
Since 2022, Russia has had a law requiring foreign IT companies with a daily audience of more than 500,000 Russian users to establish a Russian legal entity or representative office.
Russian authorities are developing the national messenger Max. Communication Platform, a subsidiary of VK Holding, will be responsible for its operation.