(MENAFN) WhatsApp, the popular messaging platform owned by Meta, could be compelled to withdraw from the Russian market as lawmakers caution that the app may encounter stricter legal constraints despite its widespread use within the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed his administration this week to develop new rules by September aimed at enforcing greater oversight on software created by companies from “unfriendly” countries.

Several Russian parliamentarians have specifically identified WhatsApp as a probable subject of these regulations.

“WhatsApp should be preparing to leave the Russian market,” declared Anton Gorelkin, deputy chair of the State Duma’s committee on information policy and technology, in a post on social media last Friday.

Another member of the committee, Anton Nemkin, told a news agency that WhatsApp’s ongoing operation in Russia represents “a legalized breach of national security.” He further stated that the app’s “fate in Russia is sealed.”

Both officials referenced Meta’s previous classification in Russia as a distributor of extremist materials.

This designation came after the company’s 2022 decision to allow content inciting violence against Russians amid the Ukraine conflict—an exception to its usual hate speech regulations.

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