Speaking to the Guardian, a WhatsApp spokesperson said: “Trying to cut off more than 100 million users from secure and private communications is regressive and reduces people’s security.” The company did not share details about what stage the blocking attempt was at.
The move in question is associated with the Kremlin’s goal of creating a “sovereign internet” independent of Western technology and more open to state control.
While the pressure on social media and messaging applications has increased in Russia recently, the slowdowns on Telegram also caused reactions.
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, criticized the Russian authorities after the access problems experienced in the application and said, “Restricting the freedom of citizens is not the right way.”
