Messaging service whatsapp on wednesday accused the russian government of attempting to "fully block" the app.
"trying to isolate over 100 million people from private and secure communication is a backwards step and can only lead to less safety for people in russia," whatsapp, which is owned by meta platforms, said in a post on x.
"we continue to do everything we can to keep users connected."
the russian government has for some time been gradually restricting the functionality of international messaging apps. whatsapp calls have already been limited to connections via virtual private networks (vpns). restrictions have also affected telegram and apple's imessage service.
whatsapp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning that only the communicating users can read messages in plain text - not the company itself.
since the start of russia's invasion of ukraine in 2022, authorities have significantly tightened internet controls and censorship. while access to foreign services has been curbed, a domestic messaging service known as max has been launched in russia.
In its statement, WhatsApp described it as a "state-owned surveillance app" that the government was seeking to push users towards.
