Fines will be imposed for the provision of banking services in Telegram

Roskomnadzor (RKN) is discussing with State Duma deputies measures of responsibility for the use of foreign instant messengers by banks and organizations providing public services, a representative of the department told Vedomosti. The fact that such measures were being discussed was confirmed to Vedomosti by Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications (United Russia), without specifying which novels could be adopted.

On March 1, 2023, a ban on the use of foreign messengers in the provision of financial and government services came into force in Russia. The corresponding article was approved in the law “On Information” at the end of December 2022. On the morning of March 1, the RKN published on the official website of the department a list of nine instant messengers that are subject to the new regulation. The list includes such services as Telegram, WhatsApp (part of the Meta recognized as extremist and banned in Russia), Viber, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Shapchat, Wechat and Threema.