The use of WhatsApp by government employees should be prohibited, according to a Russian politician, as the Kremlin tries to distance itself from Western technologies during the Ukraine crisis.

In a Telegram message, Anton Gorelkin, a member of Russia's committee for information policy, advised people not to use WhatsApp, a messaging app owned by Meta, for their correspondence. Gorelkin claimed that Meta collaborated extensively with US security authorities and forewarned users that their WhatsApp conversations may be of interest to them.

Russian state and municipal employees should not be allowed to use WhatsApp for work-related objectives, Gorelkin stated in the Telegram message.

The alternative app's ownership by Dubai or Russia was irrelevant, according to Gorelkin. The most important factor, according to him, was that the technology wasn't owned by a business that 'openly participates in the information war against our country.'

On October 11, according to Interfax, Russia added Meta, formerly known as Facebook, to its list of extremist and terrorist organisations.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, was added to Russia's list of radical and terrorist organisations on October 11, according to Interfax. As previously reported by Insider, this indicated that all Meta-provided services, including as WhatsApp and Instagram, were anticipated to be discontinued in the nation.

It happened after Russia's digital watchdog in March banned access to Facebook, claiming that the social media site was preventing users from accessing government-backed news sources like Russia Today.

It happened after Russia's digital watchdog in March banned access to Facebook, claiming that the social media site was preventing users from accessing government-backed news sources like Russia Today.

Gorelkin claimed in a Telegram post on Wednesday that he has been advised to cease using WhatsApp by pals more and more frequently. The legislator noted that he only ever used WhatsApp for chats with folks who couldn't use other messaging services.

According to WhatsApp's website, it uses end-to-end encryption, a secure communication protocol that restricts access to messages to the sender and recipient. Outside of US business hours, Insider contacted Meta for comment, but they didn't react right away.