Russian WhatsApp users challenge restrictions in Moscow court
A group of 42 Russian cellphone users filed an administrative lawsuit against the telecoms regulator and the Digital Development Ministry, challenging restrictions on calls in Telegram and WhatsApp messengers, RBC reported on December 24.
The lawsuit was filed on December 23 at Moscow's Tagansky District Court, with plaintiffs requesting that actions by Roskomnadzor and the Digital Development Ministry to partially restrict calls be declared illegal and unfounded.
Plaintiffs stated that according to Central Bank of Russia data, mobile calls and SMS remain the main channels of telephone fraud rather than messengers.
They argue that combating fraud is possible through alternative methods not affecting law-abiding users' rights, including optional blocking of messenger internet traffic at clients' request.
The lawsuit states that the introduced restrictions violate freedom to receive and transmit information, communication secrecy and private life, alongside the principle of inadmissibility of arbitrary limitation of citizens' rights and freedoms.
Roskomnadzor, the regulator, announced measures to restrict voice calls in foreign messengers in August 2025, citing the need to combat fraud and WhatsApp's failure to comply with Russian legislation.
The agency claimed these services became primary tools for deceiving citizens, extorting funds and involving people in illegal activities.
Sergei Novikov, head of the presidential administration's public projects department, stated on December 23 that blocking voice calls in foreign messengers since August has helped reduce cyber fraud statistics.
As a replacement, Russia is promoting "MAX", a state-backed "super-app" developed by government-aligned VK (Russia's largest social media firm), as the primary alternative to WhatsApp and Dubai-based Telegram, whose founder also created the VK platform more than a decade ago.
WhatsApp use in Russia has declined by 27% in 2025, analytics firm Digital Budget told RBC on December 15.
The average session duration on the messenger reached 118 seconds. During the comparable week in 2024, this figure stood at 148 seconds, representing a 21% year-on-year decline.
At the same time, average daily app openings decreased from nearly 13 times to less than 12 times.
Russia is rolling out a new scheme to tag every internet user with a single tracking number that follows them across every website and app they visit, Deputy Digital Development Minister Bella Cherkesova revealed on December 24.
The government plans to link the permanent ID to people's mobile phone numbers before claiming to strip away their identity - though critics warn the system could still expose what Russians are watching, reading and doing online, Rossiyskaya Gazeta also reported on December 24.
Officials insist the tracking is needed because the same person using different devices currently gets counted multiple times, messing up audience statistics. But the real winners could be advertisers hungry for data on who's clicking what.
"No one will ever know what a specific user watched. Data is transmitted to Mediascope in already anonymised form," the ministry claimed, referring to the television and online audience measurement company that will hoover up the information.
The scheme has sparked alarm amongst industry insiders who say it won't fix the real problems plaguing digital advertising.
"The key problem consists in matching user profiles on different platforms, even those that do not require user authorisation. Ecosystems 'lock' data inside and do not allow cross-platform user synchronisation. As a result, communication with consumers is duplicated, leading to increased costs of quality contact," Alexander Papkov, vice president of advertising industry body ARIR, stated.
Papkov warned that simply creating tracking numbers won't solve anything - Russia needs secure systems for sharing data without exposing sensitive business secrets. He demanded equal access for all companies if the ID scheme goes ahead.
"In any case, even with introduction of a unified identifier, it is critically important to ensure full and equal access to possibilities of its use by all market participants, since advanced solutions can only appear through healthy competitive struggle," Papkov stated.
The ministry is still thrashing out details with online cinemas, social networks and other digital platforms about how the tracking system would actually work. Internet resources would strip away names before passing encrypted data to Mediascope, officials claim.
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