Russia cracks down on WhatsApp as it pushes state-backed rival

Moscow has for months been trying to shift Russian users onto Max, a domestic messaging service that lacks end-to-end encryption and that activists have called a potential tool for surveillance. "As for the blocking of WhatsApp... such a decision was indeed made and implemented," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Peskov said the decision was due to WhatsApp's "reluctance to comply with the norms and letter of Russian law". "Max is an accessible alternative, a developing messenger, a national messenger.