WhatsApp Says Russia Tries to Block Its Messaging Service (1)

WhatsApp said the Russian government has moved to “fully block” the world’s most popular messaging service in the country as part of an effort to drive adoption of a new, state-sponsored app.

WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms Inc., said in a statement Wednesday that it was doing everything it could to keep its more than 100 million Russian users connected.

The announcement came after Russia removed the technical internet records that connect platforms such as WhatsApp, YouTube and Facebook to their underlying IP addresses from the national system, according to local media reports. These records act like an address ...