Technology & Science
Russia Partially Blocks WhatsApp & Telegram Voice Calls While Promoting State ‘Max’ Messenger
On 14 Aug 2025, regulator Roskomnadzor disabled voice-calling functions on WhatsApp and Telegram nationwide until the companies hand over user data demanded by Russian law-enforcement.
Focusing Facts
- Roskomnadzor’s order, issued 14 Aug 2025, affects ~96 million WhatsApp and ~89 million Telegram monthly users in Russia (Mediascope).
- President Putin authorised a government-linked replacement app, MAX, weeks earlier; Russian law now mandates its pre-installation on all new smartphones.
- Telegram voice calls have been effectively unusable since 11 Aug 2025, with WhatsApp calls producing metallic noise before the official ban.
Context
Moscow’s move echoes China’s 2009–2013 tightening of the Great Firewall—when Beijing forced Google and foreign social networks to localise data or leave—and also recalls the Soviet 1980s jamming of Western radio broadcasts: both cases show a state shrinking the information commons in the name of security. Since 2012 Russia has built a ‘sovereign Runet’ architecture (deep-packet inspection, domestic DNS, state ID log-ins); the Ukraine war accelerated that trajectory, turning earlier failed bans (e.g., Telegram 2018–2020) into more sophisticated, targeted throttling. Over a 100-year horizon this is another notch in the cyclical contest between central authority and communication technologies: each new medium—printing press, telegraph, satellite TV, now end-to-end encryption—initially outpaces control, then is corralled or supplanted by sovereign alternatives. Whether Russians adopt MAX or simply migrate to VPN-shielded tools will signal if today’s partial block is a decisive step toward a fenced-in RuNet, or just the latest round in an enduring cat-and-mouse between states and encrypted speech.
Perspectives
Russian government officials and state regulators
e.g., Roskomnadzor, State Duma figures — Present the call-blocking as a narrowly targeted security measure meant to curb fraud, sabotage and terrorism until foreign apps obey Russian data-access laws. Their security framing conveniently advances the Kremlin’s long-running push for “digital sovereignty” and a home-grown, more easily monitored messaging ecosystem, interests that critics in several reports say outweigh the stated crime-fighting goals.
WhatsApp/Meta and other Western tech platforms
WhatsApp/Meta and other Western tech platforms — Argue that Russia is attacking end-to-end encryption and Russians’ right to private communication because the companies refuse to weaken security or hand over user data. By highlighting privacy ideals, the firms also protect their brand and gloss over legitimate law-enforcement demands and the documented misuse of their platforms cited in Russian complaints.
International and regional outlets critical of Kremlin internet policy
e.g., Firstpost, Arab News — Interpret the restrictions as the latest step in Moscow’s broad crackdown on free expression and an effort to migrate users onto a state-backed app that can be tightly surveilled. Their civil-liberties focus may underplay real fraud or terrorism concerns and leans on Western sources, which can reinforce an anti-Kremlin narrative for their audiences.