Soon only pigeon mail will be left: popular messenger Viber blocked in Russia

Russian authorities have decided to block the messenger Viber on its territory.

Here's What We Know

The state authorities justified this decision by violating the requirements of the law.

It is stated that with the help of this popular messenger, terrorist and extremist activities, recruitment of citizens for illegal actions, sale of narcotic drugs and distribution of illegal information were conducted.

By banning Viber, the state "ensures security and prevents threats associated with the use of digital platforms for illegal purposes".

It is worth noting that other social networks, messengers and services were blocked with the same wording earlier. For example, the company Meta is called an "extremist organisation" in Russia, because of which Instagram and Facebook are blocked. Discord has recently joined this list, and YouTube's speed is artificially low.

There is a possibility that because of the new bill, the same fate will befall the gaming service Steam.

The blocking of Viber in Russia does not seem to be something strange, as under the wording of "extremism" under Russian law now fall even representatives of the LGBT community and the child-free movement, not to mention those who oppose the actions of the authorities and condemn the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine.

Source: Russian media