- Russia plans to ban WhatsApp
- The meta-ownership application is the most popular messaging service in the country
- Max, a national messaging application integrated into government services, will be installed on each new device from September 2025
Residents of Russia could soon find a replacement of WhatsApp, the most popular messaging application across the country.
Speaking in PK Press Club on Friday July 18, 2025, the deputy chief of the Russian Parliament Information Technology Committee, Anton Gorelkin, said that “it is time that WhatsApp is preparing to leave the Russian market”, adding that Meta had been appointed as an extremist organization in Russia.
On Tuesday, July 22, Russia adopted a law to punish online research for so -called “extremist” content, while adding new penalties to those who use VPN services.
What is the probability that WhatsApp leaves Russia?
The Russian authorities have not shared any details on how to ban WhatsApp will be applied.
That said, Meta, the supplier behind WhatsApp, has already been designated as an extremist organization, two of his other services (Facebook and Instagram) prohibited since 2022.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also reiterated the fact that WhatsApp “has certain functions under the laws of the Russian Federation” which must be fulfilled – Interfax has reported.
Two other government sources then confirmed to Meduza, an independent Russian media, that “there is a 99%chance” the WhatsApp block will occur.
The imminent ban of WhatsApp comes while the Kremlin develops its own messaging application with integrated government services. From September 2025, Max should be installed on each device sold in Russia, the independent reported.
Can a VPN help?
A virtual private network (VPN) is free to use user Internet connections while usurging their real IP address. The latter competence is generally used to bypass this type of internet geo -locking – which the Russian authorities have been trying to prevent for a long time.
Always sophisticated VPN locking tactics, which make many VPN services stop working, the Kremlin even criminalized the spread of information on the means of bypassing Internet restrictions in March 2024, forcing Apple to delete some of the best VPN applications from its official App Store.
Now, a new law still complicates things for VPN users. From July 22, there are new penalties for people in research and access to “extremist scientists”, including when they do while being connected to a VPN.
In addition, the legislators would also have adopted a provision that makes the use of a VPN to access extremist content – something WhatsApp could be ready to become – “a crime as an aggravating factor”.
