WhatsApp may be completely blocked in Russia after YouTube
The possibility of a complete blocking of the WhatsApp messenger in Russia has been raised. On February 11, the main domains of the service — whatsapp.com and web.whatsapp.com — disappeared from the DNS system of Roskomnadzor (the Russian Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications). This may result in the platform not being able to open in Russia.
According to information, the removal of domains from the National Domain Name System is considered a sign of actual blocking. However, the domains whatsapp.net and wa.me were still active until the evening.
Is it WhatsApp's turn after YouTube?
A day earlier — on February 10 — it was reported that the youtube.com domain had also been removed from the same list. This step is considered a de facto complete blocking of YouTube in Russia. Official agencies, however, state that the platform was not blocked, but simply "slowed down."
In such cases, users encounter the error “DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN” in the browser when trying to access the site. This error indicates that the domain does not exist and confirms that it has been removed from the DNS system.
No official position
Roskomnadzor had not made an official statement regarding the removal of WhatsApp domains as of the evening of February 11. The agency was content to say only that “there is no comment at this time.”
Although some sources claim that similar problems have arisen with the Facebook and Instagram domains, this information has not been fully confirmed.
What is the reason for the restrictions?
Experts believe that these steps may be related to a more effective slowdown of Telegram. In their opinion, the technical resources used to control Internet traffic are limited, and it may be difficult to impose restrictions on several large platforms at the same time.
Note that restrictions on WhatsApp have been implemented in stages since August last year. First, the voice calling function in the messenger was blocked, and then additional restrictions came into force.
While there is currently no official decision on whether WhatsApp and YouTube will be completely blocked in Russia, the removal of domains from the state DNS system reinforces this possibility. These processes indicate that Russia is tightening its internet control policy.
