A popular messaging platform, WhatsApp, should prepare to leave Russia, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Anton Gorelkin said on Friday.
The app is "highly likely" to be added to the list of companies from unfriendly countries and blocked in Russia, Gorelkin said, according to RIA Novosti. He noted that 68% of Russian citizens use WhatsApp every day, stating he expects a new domestic messaging app to replace it in the Russian market.
WhatsApp's parent company, Meta Platforms, has been designated as an "extremist organization" by the Russian authorities, which blocked access to Facebook and Instagram in 2022.
