The head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, Sergei Boyarsky, told TASS that information about the possible blocking of the messenger is a rumor.
"These are rumors, we cannot afford to comment on them. At the moment, there is no additional information other than the fact that the service has been added to the register of information dissemination organizers," Boyarsky said.
Another State Duma deputy, Sergei Kolunov, reported that the issue of blocking the messenger is not being discussed in parliament.
But according to Andrey Svintsov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, the likelihood of WhatsApp being blocked is quite high.
The fact that the messenger could suffer the same fate as its cyprus mobile database parent company was stated back in July 2024 by the then head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein.
What is the threat of WhatsApp shutdown?
Internet service shutdowns are nothing new for Russians, and there are always alternatives. So there is no need to panic, especially since the messenger has not yet been blocked.
If WhatsApp does become unavailable, those who do not use other services risk losing contacts. In addition, they will have to get used to the new interfaces of other messengers.
To avoid the shock of an unexpected WhatsApp shutdown, it is worth creating backup copies of correspondence, synchronizing contacts, finding alternatives and starting to use them.