WhatsApp messenger and YouTube video hosting blocked in Russia

WhatsApp and YouTube have been completely blocked in Russia, with most users only able to access the services via VPN.

This is reported by users and Russian media.

The service domains are blocked under the so-called "Sovereign Runet" law. They were removed from the National Domain Name System. As a result, devices in the Russian Federation have stopped receiving the IP addresses necessary to connect to the platforms, and providers that use state DNS servers can no longer establish a connection.

The domains whatsapp.com and web.whatsapp.com disappeared from the records, effectively making the messenger inaccessible to most users. At the same time, some technical domains, including whatsapp.net and wa.me, still remained in the lists, but this will not restore the full operation of the service.

Data from a number of other resources has also disappeared. These include the websites "Nastoyaschee Vremya", "Radio Liberty", BBC News, Deutsche Welle, Facebook and the Tor browser. Russian regulators are increasingly using the method of blocking by deleting or replacing DNS records.

The Russians have already used such actions in isolated cases, in particular when blocking Discord and Signal in 2024. Telegram was also disrupted during the blocking in the country. On February 9-10, users in certain regions, including the Far East, reported technical problems.

Russian media reported a possible slowdown in the service, although the Russian military, according to them, asked the authorities not to block the messenger, calling it an important communication channel.

Blocking services in Russia

In 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office, the music streaming platform SoundCloud was blocked in Russia, and the site is unavailable on all leading Russian providers.

In late July 2024, YouTube began to slow down for Russians. Initially, the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies, and Mass Communications (“Roskomnadzor”) attributed this to Googleʼs "technical problems", but eventually the regulator admitted that it had itself restricted YouTubeʼs operation, citing "violations of the law and disrespect" for the country.

Also in the same year, “Roskomnadzor” restricted access to Viber in Russia. And in December 2025, it blocked Snapchat and FaceTime.

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