Will Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Defy Putin’s Attempt To Ban Its WhatsApp Chat Platform in Russia?

Excerpt

The Kremlin is currently working to sever Russian users from the messaging platform WhatsApp, with officials calling it “a legal breach of national security.” While Russia has steadily distanced ties with Western media, WhatsApp is deeply pervasive, with over three quarters of Russians regularly using the platform. 

As Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta contemplates President Vladimir Putin’s latest authoritarian demand, the company should remember that the Kremlin has more to lose than WhatsApp. Moscow may not have the capacity to enforce its tough line, and it risks adding another catalyst to growing protest among the Russians who will disobey Mr. Putin’s digital authoritarianism. 

Ivana Stradner serves as a research fellow to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Barish Center for Media Integrity, where her research focuses on Russia’s information operations and cybersecurity, particularly Russia’s use of advanced forms of hybrid warfare and the threat they pose to the West.