This article has been updated.
Banned messengers – these are programs for instant messaging that are prohibited or restricted for use at the legislative level in the territory of a particular state. Among the main reasons for the ban are problems with information security, refusal to cooperate with the authorities, connections with governments and transfer of data in the interests of foreign countries.
Examples include the bans on WhatsApp in China and WeChat in the US. Some countries partially restrict the work of instant messengers (for example, in the UAE, audio and video communication in WhatsApp and Telegram is not available, and the use of VPN services is prohibited). In Russia, until recently, the most famous example of a banned messenger was Telegram, access to which was restricted on the territory of the Russian Federation for refusing to provide encryption keys to access users' correspondence. In 2020, the blocking was removed from Telegram, but in 2023 the messenger was again included in the list of banned messengers, however, without access restrictions.
In the article, we will talk about the law that regulates the use of instant messengers on the territory of the Russian Federation and what penalties are provided for violating the law, we will list which instant messengers were included in the "black list"; Roskomnadzor, and what messengers are allowed and recommended for Russian companies and departments.
At the end of 2022, Federal Law No. 584-FZ "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" was adopted and signed. The norms of the law came into force on March 1, 2023.
According to the document, it is forbidden to use foreign software for transfer:
- payment documents,
- providing information containing personal data
- data about transfers,
- information required for making payments
- information about accounts (deposits) of citizens.
Restrictions on the use of foreign software when transferring financial information and personal data apply to banks, financial organizations (credit and non-credit), state-owned companies, companies with state participation of more than 50%, authorities, state and municipal organizations, subjects of the national payment systems.
At the end of June 2023, President Vladimir Putin signed the federal law “On Responsibility for the Use of Prohibited Foreign Messengers to Transfer Payment Documents, Personal Data of Russian Citizens and Other Information.” According to the law, the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is supplemented by a rule on liability for the use of prohibited foreign instant messengers. For violation of the ban, it is proposed to introduce fines: for officials - from 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles, for legal — from 100 thousand to 700 thousand rubles
Also, a number of Russian departments spoke about the use of foreign messengers. Thus, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation recommended the use of domestic alternative platforms for communication in the implementation of educational activities. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation sent a letter to the heads of trade and industrial enterprises with a recommendation not to use foreign instant messengers and videoconferencing systems, such as Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp (owned by Meta, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) for work. However, there were no specific prohibitions at the legislative level for educational institutions and commercial companies (with the exception of those indicated above in the framework of the transfer of financial and personal data).
The obligation to compile a list of foreign software prohibited for use in the transfer of financial and personal data was assigned to Roskomnadzor. The agency has defined foreign messengers as information systems and computer programs owned by foreign persons that are intended and (or) used for exchanging messages exclusively between their users, in which the sender determines the recipients of the messages.
On March 1, 2023, Roskomnadzor published a list of “banned messengers”. It includes:
1. Discord
2. Microsoft Teams
3. Skype for Business
4. Snapchat
5. Telegram
6. Threema
7. Viber
8. whatsapp
9. WeChat
The agency asks Russian organizations to take these circumstances into account when planning their activities. It is possible that the list of banned foreign messengers will be expanded later - stay tuned to the Roskomnadzor website for updates.
For private correspondence, you can use any messengers, except those with access which are blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation (for example, Facebook Messenger, owned by Meta, an organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia). Of course, there are workarounds for using such messengers, but they cannot be classified as officially allowed.
Allowed for the public and corporate sectors are those messengers that are recommended for use in business communication at the official level. First of all, these messengers include Russian solutions - developed in Russia and included in the Register of Russian Software.
List of allowed Russian messengers that are included in the Register of Russian Software:
- eXpress (also eXpress is certified by FSTEC No. 4232)
- VK Teams
- TrueConf
- TamTam
- Pachca
- Communicate
- Yandex.Messenger
- Dialog
- "P7-Command"
More solutions can be found on the official website of the Registry. The use of Russian solutions by government and commercial organizations will both comply with the law and eliminate the risks associated with blocking, imposing sanctions or access to confidential data by foreign authorities.
