Russians banned from calling via Telegram and WhatsApp

Roskomnadzor has announced a partial restriction on voice calls on Telegram and WhatsApp messengers. According to the agency, these services have become the main channels for fraud and "involvement in subversive and terrorist activities," the Russian media outlet Meduza reports.

The Russian government said that access to calls will be restored after the requirements of Russian law are met. The agency believes that this restriction will reduce the number of calls from scammers. Users first noticed the outages on August 10-11.

At the end of May, the largest telecommunications operators MTS, Megafon, Beeline, and Tele2 proposed blocking calls in foreign messengers. They argued that such a step would reduce claims by law enforcement agencies and help avoid a complete blocking of services.