Russia blocks Chinese chat application WeChat

The Russian authorities have banned the popular chat application WeChat. The reason is that the Chinese owner of the app did not want to register with the telecom authorities in Russia, something that was made mandatory some time ago.

This is reported by Reuters news agency based on reports in the Chinese newspaper South China Morning Post. Russian telecom authority Roskomnadzor has blocked access to WeChat for violating Article 15.4 of the Information, Information Technology and Information Security Act. This means that the ban has been imposed because the chat app is not registered with the authorities.

Tencent, the Chinese maker of WeChat, has indicated that it is aware of the blockade by the Russians. Consultations are said to be underway with the Russian authorities, but it is still unclear what the outcome will be. When it comes to registering WeChat with the authorities, Tencent is said to have a “disagreement” with the legal requirements.

WeChat has approximately 900 million users worldwide, making it one of the most popular chat applications. The software is especially popular in Asia.