WhatsApp Says Russia Has Tried to Block Its Messaging Service

Mark Anderson

Thu, February 12, 2026 at 10:31 AM GMT+9 1 min read

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(Bloomberg) – WhatsApp said Russia’s government has moved to “fully block” its popular encrypted messaging service in the country as part of an effort to drive adoption of a new, state-sponsored app.

WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta Platforms Inc., said in a statement on Wednesday it was doing everything it could to keep its more than 100 million Russian users connected. The Financial Times reported that millions of people in the country were abruptly cut off from WhatsApp.

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Russia’s government has been promoting the use of a state-run “super-app” called Max, modeled after China’s WeChat, at the same time as it has choked off access to foreign messenger services. In addition to messaging, Max hosts government services and enables document storage, banking and other public and commercial programs.

Telegram, another popular foreign-owned messaging app, has also been hit by efforts to limit its access. Russia’s communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, planned to limit access to the app this week, the RBC news service reported, citing people familiar with the situation it didn’t identify.

–With assistance from Sarah Frier.

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