Russians have massively encountered problems using the WhatsApp messenger. According to Russian media reports, Roskomnadzor has slowed down the messenger's operation by 70-80%, UNN reports.
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According to the "Sboy.rf" service, in less than a day on December 22, more than 2,100 complaints about the application's operation were received from 20 regions of Russia, compared to an average of 270 appeals per day last week. The largest number of complaints were submitted by users from Moscow (58% of the total), St. Petersburg (13%), and the Moscow region (8%). Residents of Kaliningrad, Vladimir, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk regions, Krasnodar Krai, Tatarstan, Karelia, and others also reported problems.
According to a source in the telecom market, cited by Russian media, Roskomnadzor has slowed down the messenger's operation by 70-80% since today. Communication operators have nothing to do with this, the Russian media interlocutor emphasized.
As follows from the appeals of Russians on Downdetector, with the current level of slowdown, notifications in WhatsApp do not work correctly, freezes occur during loading, and there are difficulties with sending text messages, writes The Moscow Times.
The publication notes that in mid-August, Roskomnadzor officially announced restrictions on calls in WhatsApp and Telegram, explaining that they are used by fraudsters to "extort money" and "involve Russian citizens in subversive and terrorist activities." In late November, the supervisory agency warned of a "gradual" complete blocking of WhatsApp. After that, massive failures in the messenger's operation occurred in Siberia, the Urals, and St. Petersburg.