Instant Messenger, IM

Security in instant messengers

Main article: Security in instant messengers

Messenger market estimates

2023: Average daily coverage of users of social networks and instant messengers in Russia

2022: Traffic to Russian social networks and instant messengers has almost doubled since the beginning of 2022

Traffic to Russian social networks and instant messengers has almost doubled since the beginning of 2022, while the number of users has grown by 20%. Yota announced this on December 27, 2022. Read more here.

2021: Telegram bypasses WhatsApp in terms of mobile traffic in most regions of Russia

In 2021 Telegram , it became the fastest growing messenger in: Russia over the year, the volume mobile internet traffic in the service more than doubled. Specialists came to such conclusions MegaFon on the basis big data of analysis and reported this on December 22, 2021.

Telegram in 2021 for the first time became a leader in 50 regions of the country. For December 2021, it is ahead of Whatsapp in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara and Chelyabinsk regions, Trans-Baikal Territory, and the Chuvash Republic. The least Telegram is used in the republics of the North Caucasus, where WhatsApp is traditionally the leader, whose share is 67%.

Over the year, the total volume of mobile Internet traffic in instant messengers increased by 87%. More subscribers are using them not only for sending messages, but also for voice calls.

WhatsApp continues to hold first place with a 48% share, which has shrunk by almost a quarter in a year. At the same time, Telegram grew by 26%, it accounts for 44% of traffic. If the dynamics of 2021 continues, at the beginning of 2022 Telegram may become the leader in the ranking of popular messengers in Russia. Experts explain the popularity of Telegram by the fact that it is not only a tool for communication and work, but also one of the main sources of information content.

Viber closes the top three popular messengers with a share of 6%. In 2020, it accounted for 11% of traffic.

2019

Russians call more often through instant messengers than via traditional cellular communications

On September 19, 2019, it became known that Russians are now calling more often through instant messengers than through traditional cellular communications. Such data are provided in a study by Deloitte. Read more here.

Mediascope data

2018: Mediascope: Daily and monthly audience of mobile messenger applications in Russia

Mediascope found out how the number of users of mobile messenger applications in Russia changed from October 2017 to October 2018.

2017

EY study

About 8% of Russian users prefer to make voice calls using instant messengers, rather than voice calls in cellular networks. Another 31% of Russians use instant messengers and cellular communications equally often, and 50% use cellular communications more often. Only 11% of users do not use instant messengers in normal circumstances, resorting to them only if cellular communication is not available.

Such conclusions were reached by Ernst & Young specialists during a study of the broadband Internet access market in Moscow and other cities of Russia with a population of more than 100 thousand people. In general, the company concludes about accelerating the transition of users from cellular to instant messengers when it comes to voice calls. This process leads to the loss by operators of income, statistics, as well as the ability to recognize and optimize encrypted video traffic.

WhatsApp was recognized as the most popular messenger in the course of the study - 65% of respondents use it. Another 43% of respondents use Skype, 42% use Viber, and 22% use Telegram. Ernst & Young analysts note that Telegram has grown its audience most noticeably over the year, and Skype has the most significant outflow of users.

In total, during the study, 1.5 thousand Russians who use mobile Internet were interviewed. 30% of respondents live in Moscow. The study was conducted in February 2018.

VimpelCom data

In the period from January to December 2017, the number of messenger users in Russia increased by 7%. At the same time, the average number of instant messengers used by one user increased from December 2016 to December 2017 from 1.73 to 3. Such conclusions were reached by analysts of the cellular operator VimpelCom (Beeline brand), having analyzed the impersonal data of their subscribers^[1] of^[2].

The most popular messenger according to the study was WhatsApp. It is followed by Viber, Skype and Telegram. The fastest audience growth from January to December 2017 was demonstrated by Telegram and Skype. The number of Telegram users has almost doubled, and the number of Skype users has more than 1.5 times.

As of December 2017, 68.3% of messenger users logged into them from Android devices, 21.9% from Apple devices. 9.8% of the audience used other operating systems.

In the course of the study, it was found that messenger users began to consume more traffic - from January to December 2017, its volume increased 1.4 times. In terms of traffic growth, WhatsApp and Telegram were the leaders - their traffic increased by 39% over the year. In the case of Telegram, Beeline analysts explain this by the growing popularity of Telegram channels - a type of media resources that generate a large amount of traffic.

There was also an increase in the number of sessions in messengers by 7.5% in the period from January to December 2017. As it turned out, on average, the user enters any messengers about 24-25 times a day. In terms of the number of sessions with a 60.5% share, WhatsApp ranks first, followed by Viber, Telegram and Skype.

The most active Russians use messengers on Fridays. By the number of users, the period of peak activity was from 10:00 to 11:00, and by traffic consumption - from 17.00 to 18.00.

Audience composition

Messengers are used mainly by adults. Persons under the age of 18 account for 7.7% of their audience. Users aged 18 to 25 years make up 9.8% of the total, from 25 to 35 years old - 32.3%, from 35 to 45 years old - 26.8%. At the same time, 13.1% of messenger users are between the ages of 45 and 55, and 7.6% are between 55 and 64. Only 2.7% of the messenger audience is over the age of 64.

By the number of messenger users living in them, Russian cities can be built in the following order: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk, Stavropol, Barnaul and Vladivostok. However, they do not account for the largest number of sessions: the share of Moscow is 16.5%, St. Petersburg - 3.3%, and million-plus cities in total - 27.9%. Most of the sessions in messengers are performed by residents of cities with a population of up to 1 million people - their share is 29.8%. 22.5% of sessions are performed in small settlements.

Among Muscovites, WhatsApp became the most beloved messenger with a traffic share of 71.6%. It is followed by Viber, Skype and Telegram. WhatsApp is also preferred in St. Petersburg, but its share is lower - 47%. Next in the list of favorite messengers of St. Petersburg are Viber, Telegram and Skype.

VTsIom

The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) presented research data^[3] (VTsIOM)^[4] the use of social networks by Russians. It turned out that 45% of respondents over 18 use at least one of the social networks almost every day, 62% - at least once a week. About a third are completely excluded from social media (20% due to the fact that they do not have access to the Internet and another 10% do not have a single account).

Almost three quarters of respondents noted that they use instant messengers: 62% sent at least one message per day on the eve of the survey. WhatsApp (44%), VKontakte messenger (32%), SMS (32%) and Viber (30%) are in the lead. The choice of a program for exchanging short messages is also closely related to age - among respondents over 60 years old, SMS is most often used (43%), and in the group of 18-24 years old - the VKontakte messenger (69%).

eMarketer Data

According to eMarketer analysts, in 2017, the active audience of the messenger can grow to 42.3 million users. Analysts call active people who log into the application at least once a month. In 2017, there were 13.8% more of them compared to 2016.

About 26% of the Russian population uses the social network application every day, the age of the audience varies from 12 to 64 years. By comparison, WhatsApp has 22.7%, while Viber has 14.5%.

By 2021, experts predict an increase in the audience of the messenger by 11 million, to 54.1 million people. In total, the application has about 80 million users today.

According to analysts, the VKontakte mobile application has much more users than Viber and WhatsApp.

Tele2 and Maxima Telecom data

Tele2, an alternative mobile operator, and Maxima Telecom, a Wi-Fi space operator in the Moscow Metro, analyzed the preferences of mobile Internet users in 2017. The most popular Internet resources and services among passengers of the metropolitan subway turned out to be social networks and instant messengers.

When choosing applications for communication, 53.4% of Tele2 subscribers, while waiting for the train, prefer the WhatsApp messenger. The second place is taken by Viber with a share of 42%, and the third place went to the Facebook network and its messenger (23%).

It is noteworthy that the Telegram messenger and the Instagram social network were not included in the top three and shared the fourth position in the ranking (about 18%). In addition, Tele2 subscribers used Skype less often than other messengers: it was in fifth place on the list with an indicator of 1.6%.

According to the data received, 91% of Tele2 subscribers in the Moscow metro connect to the Internet using smartphones, and 9% of users prefer tablets.

Tele2's client preference rating differs from the list of the most popular networks and instant messengers compiled by the Maxima Telecom operator.

So, according to Maxima Telecom, Facebook has become the most popular social network and messenger among metro passengers - 74.8% of users of the free high-speed Wi-Fi network MT FREE open applications. In second place in popularity is the WhatsApp messenger with a coverage of 63.2%. The social network "Vkontakte," which does not have a messenger in the form of a separate application, is used by 55% of those who connected to the MT_FREE.

In fourth place in popularity is the social network Instagram (42.1%), which is only slightly inferior to Odnoklassniki (37.3%). About a third of users of free Wi-Fi access to the metro communicate through Viber messengers (30.1%) and Telegram (27.2%). Finally, just over a quarter of the MT_FREE audience - 25.9% of − users open Twitter.

Artezio Research - Messengers for Business

The rating of the most functional and reliable corporate messengers is as follows:

1. Cisco Jabber;

2. Atlassian HipChat;

3. IBM Lotus Sametime;

4. Skype for Business;

5. Brosix;

6. Slack;

7. Viber;

8. Google Hangouts;

9. Adium.

In its study, Artezio (Artesio) notes that the programs included in the rating are focused on the requests of various companies. Small startups (from 1 to 10 people) can use free versions of Cisco messengers, standard Skype or the initial version of Slack. For large companies (from 100 to 500 people), paid business versions are provided. At the same time, all solutions included in the list of the best provide sufficient functionality and quality for business communication. However, often companies are not free to choose communication tools.

5 largest messenger applications (infographics)

What is the reason for the popularity of messaging programs? Obviously, this is a wide functionality of capabilities that is at least not inferior to social networks, and in many ways surpasses them. Thus, the standard set of services that each messenger has a priori is text, audio and video communication, the ability to create a group chat, the ability to transfer files and geolocation. A number of systems support games and can scan a QR code. In addition, WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook Messenger can be installed on your computer. And Line and WeChat also support conference calls^[5]

Together with standard functions, each of the messengers has a set of individual features that distinguish it from others. For example, Watsap provides users with the ability to write or draw on a photo or video, and then send them to friends. Facebook Messenger, like WeChat, allows financial transactions in America and China, respectively. Line allows users to create their own account and PR page to promote their own business and create a research page to conduct surveys and survey the target audience. But WeChat surpassed everyone in this sense - being both a messenger, an Internet portal, and a social network, the system allows, for example, to make an appointment with a doctor, book a plane ticket or pay for a communal apartment! And with all this, each messenger can be downloaded for free!

Separately, it is worth noting the issue of confidentiality of personal correspondence, which is provided using the end-to-end encryption system - with its help no one can read the sent message except the end user. WhatsApp, standing guard over his personal life, has implemented the default use of this system since November 2014. Moreover, Watsap remains the only messenger that notifies the user if e2e encryption does not apply to a specific chat. Facebook Messenger, Viber and Line came to use encryption only 2016 year, but WeChat, despite its huge popularity, does not use it at all, which makes it one of the most unsafe messengers in the world.

2016

The largest projects in the world and in Russia

If at the beginning of 2016 the global audience of systems was estimated at 1.4 billion users, then by 2018 their number should exceed 2 billion people.

The largest messengers in the world include WhatsApp (1.2 billion users at the end of 2016), Facebook Messenger (1 billion in mid-2016), QQ (900 million as of Q3 2016), WeChat (846 million as of Q3 2016), Skype (more than 300 million at the end of Q1 2016), Viber (260 million at the end of 2016) and Line (217 million at the end of 2016^[6]

In 2016, international voice OTT traffic exceeded traditional telephone traffic for the first time - 552 billion minutes. against 546 billion minutes, respectively.

Compared to a survey conducted by J'son & Partners Consulting (Jason & Partners Consulting) in mid-2015, the VKontakte project managed to take off from 5th to 1st place, and Skype (the absolute leader according to 2013) shifted from 3rd to 4th place after WhatsApp and Viber. The decline in the popularity of Skype in Russia in 2016 is confirmed by data from other surveys and is associated with insufficient quality of communication, an abundance of advertising, insufficient easy registration and distribution of contacts compared to other messengers (Viber, WhatsApp and Telegram), as well as the need to keep the application active for the possibility of real-time communications.

From paid calls and subscription fees to "social shopping"

After not quite successful, and sometimes unsuccessful attempts at monetization due to subscription fees and paid calls in mobile and fixed-line networks, monetization of mobile messengers remains an urgent problem, and companies are trying to solve it in different ways, for example:

• selling advertisements, stickers and souvenirs;
• Create platforms for third-party applications and services
• "social commerce";
• commission from business account holders.

Most likely, messengers will practice a variety of ways to monetize themselves before settling on several key optimal models. One of the significant trends is the transition of the largest players to creating their own platforms for third-party applications.

The largest Russian instant messengers mainly follow the path of the Chinese WeChat project, which, through partnership with millions of companies from various segments (from urban transport to food delivery and sale of digital content), was able to integrate a large number of services into one application. WeChat users, without leaving the application, can, for example, choose a breakfast cafe, book a table, call a taxi, choose food from the menu, pay a bill, etc.

With the help of instant messengers, a model of communications between consumers and brands is being built - currently Russia is taking only the first steps in this direction. For example, some retailers so far mainly use this channel of communication with their customers in the simplest options (for example, as a replacement for a regular phone for inquiries). Messengers are more actively used in online sales (accepting orders, booking tickets, support services, consultations, etc.). Some companies are already actively using bots, which can significantly reduce customer service costs.

Mobile Operator Projects

Until now, none of the Russian operators has managed to create a project in the field of mobile messenger that could compete in popularity with existing global brands - WhatsApp, Viber, etc. Nevertheless, operators' attempts to create similar services do not stop. For example, in 2015, MTS launched the MTS Connect messenger, MegaFon relaunched Multifon (eMotion project) in 2016, and VimpelCom plans to launch the Veon application in 2017, which combines the functionality of the messenger and the aggregator of online services. There are only isolated examples of successful launch of mobile messengers by operators in the world. One of them is the BiP project of the Turkish mobile operator Turkcell (more than 10 million downloads by the end of Q3 2016). However, the ways to monetize BiP remain unclear.

Regulation

Mobile operators complain that while their activities are licensed, and mobile messengers provide, in fact, the same services, their activities are not regulated in any way. In November 2016, a bill on the regulation of OTT services was published on the website of the Media Communication Union (ISS), which includes, among other things, the largest mobile operators. The document, in particular, obliges messenger developers to work in Russia only under an agreement with telecom operators, identify users and restrict the transfer of prohibited information. The development of the bill began in 2015, it was criticized by Internet companies that manage instant messengers and video services, as well as the expert council under the government. Nevertheless, the need to regulate messengers was supported in the State Duma. The draft strategy for the development of the information society for 2017-2030, published on the website of the Security Council of Russia, assumes, among other things, strengthening the legal regulation of social networks and instant messengers.

Popular messengers of Russia according to Megafon

In the fall of 2016, Megafon analyzed what messengers and social networks mobile subscribers use throughout Russia. In particular, it turned out that the main social network that people read from smartphones is VKontakte (37.5%), followed by Odnoklassniki (19.1%), Instagram ( 16.8%), Twitter (10.5%) and Facebook (9.1%). It is noteworthy that Instagram is much more popular in the Moscow region and in the North Caucasus, and Odnoklassniki in Siberia and the Far East. The popularity rating of mobile messengers looks like this.

Previously, subscribers transmitted to each other mainly short text messages, but now the number of smartphones has grown significantly. And thanks to the fast mobile Internet, subscribers now actively send each other photo, video and audio files, and group chats are also popular.

2014

According to J'son & Partners Consulting, the penetration of mobile messengers in 2014 Russia was estimated at 78%. "By a wide margin in popularity Skype , more than 70% of respondents use this application), followed by projects Mail.Ru Group (", Mail.ru Agent"", "Schoolmates and ICQ VK), a global leader -, WhatsApp as well as, and," the consulting QIP Facebook Viber agency said in a study.

News

2024

In Russia, a ban on messages from strangers in instant messengers began to operate

In Russia, on November 1, 2024, legislative amendments came into force prohibiting the sending of messages from unknown users in instant messengers. The innovation is aimed at combating fraud in the field of online communications.

According to the TV channel St. Petersburg"," amendments to the law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" were adopted State Duma in July 2024.

In Russia, a ban on receiving messages from strangers in instant messengers came into force.

According to the new requirements, all messenger users must undergo mandatory identification using a subscriber phone number. Application owners are required to provide the technical ability to block messages from unknown senders.

Lawyer Yevgeny Krivtsun expressed concern that many popular messengers do not have official registration in Russia, which can lead to difficulties in law enforcement practice and a decrease in the effectiveness of the measures taken.

Director of the Association of Social Network Users Vladimir Zykov stressed that the implementation of the restriction mechanism will largely depend on the active actions of the users themselves, which may negatively affect the efficiency of the legislative initiative.

Experts point to the need to develop international cooperation and create effective legal mechanisms to successfully combat fraud through instant messengers. Without an integrated approach to solving the problem and coordinating efforts at the international level, achieving the goals set can be difficult.^[7]

ARPP presented the results of comparing the functionality of domestic and imported messengers. Tables

On October 1, 2024, the Association of Software Product Developers (ARPP) "Domestic Software" published the results of an analysis of the Russian corporate messenger market. One of the goals of the study was to determine which domestic employee communication platforms can be used to replace foreign counterparts such as Telegram, Skype for business, Microsoft Teams, etc.

The scale of services was estimated by the number of users, application downloads and site views. When comparing the capabilities of instant messengers, basic functions, employee administration, availability (availability of a web interface, applications for main operating systems and mobile applications), type of data placement (in cloud storage or on their servers), as well as the presence of a chatbot designer, task manager or the ability to import from other instant messengers were considered.

The Top List includes domestic products "Pack," " VK Teams Express," Yandex Messenger"," ",", "MTS Link and SaluteJazz Compass Amo foreign solutions,, Slack Discord Mattermost,, Zulip Rocket.Chat,.Chat, Google MS Teams. The authors of the study concluded that Russian ones are messengers almost identical in functionality to their foreign counterparts. However, improvements are still required in some areas: among such functions are the mention of groups of chat participants, preview of files, the presence of a task manager and import of data from foreign instant messengers.

It is also said that interest in domestic communication platforms has grown sharply against the background of anti-Russian sanctions and blocking foreign corporate messengers. The list of Russian applications for corporate communications will be presented in the Import Substitution Catalog of ARPP "Domestic Software."^[8]

2023

Russia adopted a law on fines for the use of foreign messengers by civil servants and banks

On June 20, 2023, the State Duma adopted in the third (final) reading a law establishing responsibility for the illegal use of foreign messengers by civil servants and financial organizations. They will be fined.

Within the framework of the adopted amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, state employees will not be able to use foreign messengers within the framework of fulfilling a state order or municipal task, and financial organizations are prohibited from connecting foreign messengers to their information systems, while any other communication between civil servants or bank employees in foreign messengers (including for working purposes) is not prohibited, respectively, they will not be punished for this either, said Anton Gorelkin, one of the co-authors of the draft deputy head of the information technology committee.

The law adopted by the State Duma establishes fines for violating such a ban. For officials, the punishment will be from 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles, for legal entities - from 100 thousand to 700 thousand rubles.

The authors of the initiative remind that the law in some cases prohibits the use of foreign messengers for the transfer of personal data and financial information, as well as the connection of information systems to such messengers for money transfers. This provision entered into force on March 1, 2023.

According to the list posted on the website, Roskomnadzor as of March 1, 2023, such services may include Discord Microsoft Teams Skype for Business Snapchat:,,,,,,,,. Telegram" Threema Viber WhatsApp We ask WeChat Russian organizations to take into account new circumstances when planning their activities," the Roskomnadzor website says.^[9] is introduced^[10]

Civil servants and bank employees will be fined up to 700 thousand rubles for communication in foreign messengers

The basis for the fine will be "uploading legally or financially significant information to the server of a foreign platform." According to the Roskomnadzor list, "unfriendly" platforms include Telegram, Viber, WhatsApp, Skype for Business, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Snapchat, Threat, WeChat.

Roskomnadzor has published a list of foreign messengers with a ban on integration with banks. It includes 9 services

On March 1, 2023, Roskomnadzor published a list of foreign messengers with a ban on integration with banks. It includes 9 services:

• Discord;
• Microsoft Teams;
• Skype for Business;
• Snapchat;
• Telegram;
• Threema;
• Viber;
• WhatsApp;
• WeChat.

This list is relevant for March 1, 2023. It is possible that it will expand. As recalled in Roskomnadzor, on March 1, 2023, parts 8-10 of Art. 10 of the law "On information, information technologies and information protection." Innovations establish a ban for a number of Russian organizations on the use of foreign messengers (information systems and computer programs belonging to foreign persons, which are intended and (or) used to exchange messages exclusively between their users, in which the sender determines the recipients of messages and does not provide for the placement of public information on the Internet by Internet users). In addition, it is forbidden to transmit information through foreign messengers when providing state and municipal services and fulfilling a state or municipal task.

In January 2023, Roskomnadzor announced that it would classify Telegram as foreign messengers. By that time, Russian credit organizations began launching mobile banks inside a chat bot on Telegram. Thus, Alfa-Bank announced its intentions to open banking in Telegram and VK. Later, the chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina said that the regulator sees no risks in the use of Telegram by banks. In February 2023, the vice-president of the Association of Banks of Russia, Alexei Voilukov, reported that the association would ask Roskomnadzor not to prohibit the provision of services through Telegram, since the messenger itself does not process payment and personal information.^[11]

The Ministry of Digital Development urged banks to refrain from providing services through instant messengers

In mid-February 2023, Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation urged banks to refrain from providing services through instant messengers. At the same time, credit organizations are actively developing this channel of interaction with customers.

What exactly does not need to be done, I directly urge this: please, do not provide services through messengers! I have a huge call for banks! We're right seeing right now that it's like it could happen. Let's not accustom citizens to the fact that through messengers a bank can officially come to it and offer some servants. Because we will never be able to teach them what to believe, "said Vladimir Bengin, director of the cybersecurity department of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, at one of the forums in mid-February 2023 (quoted by Frank Media).

According to him, 65-80% of all calls to fraudsters are made through WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia). Bengin noted that it is already difficult to identify the final owner of the number, even when most scammers call from Russian numbers. And when the number of calls from foreign numbers grows, it will be almost impossible, especially given that WhatsApp is outside of Russian regulation, he added.

Vladimir Bengin pointed out that most often fraudsters put the labels of well-known banks, the Central Bank or the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the avatar. Therefore, some citizens do not even check the phone number: is it official.

Earlier, Alfa Bank and VK launched a pilot to send free notifications to customers through VK Messenger, and MTS Bank and the fintech platform Talkbank created a joint bot in instant messengers for everyday banking.^[12]

2022

Ban on the use of foreign messengers in Russia for the provision of banking services

On December 21, 2022, the State Duma in the third (final) reading adopted a law prohibiting the transfer of personal data in foreign messengers when providing state and banking services or fulfilling a government task. Amendments are made to the law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection."

From March 1, 2023, banks, brokers, managers, NPFs, depositories and insurers will not be able to use foreign messengers for:

• Transfer of payment documents;
• Providing information containing; personal data Russians
• Transfer of data on money transfers in case of non-cash payments;
• Transfer of information necessary for making payments and or information on accounts and deposits of citizens Russia in; banks
• Carrying out various forms of non-cash payments.

The ban will also affect companies with state participation above 50%, participants in the national payment system. It is prohibited to transmit information through foreign messengers when providing state and municipal services, performing a state or municipal task.

Roskomnadzor should prepare a list of instant messengers and post on its website. By December 22, 2022, the list of services has not yet been prepared by the department.

According to a survey conducted by the SuperJob research center in October 2022, 74% of Russians use the WhatsApp messenger (owned by Meta, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation) for work purposes. 55% of respondents are ready to remove work contacts from WhatsApp if the corresponding restrictions are adopted at the government level. A third of Russians are not ready for this.

Bill No. 141597-8 on amendments to the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" was submitted to the State Duma by deputies Anton Gorelkin and Alexander Khinshtein^[13]

Russian sentenced to three years for using a secure messenger

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Tomsk sentenced Belous Georgy Vyacheslavovich to three years of restriction of freedom in connection with the use of the protected Vipole messenger. The court qualified the actions of the defendant under Part 1 of Art. 273 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (creation, use and distribution of malicious computer programs). Such information is given in the guilty verdict in case No. 1-981/2022 of October 21, 2022, published on the court's website on November 10, 2022. Read more here.

Swiss army bans military from using foreign messengers

The Swiss Armed Forces banned military personnel from using Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal messengers for information security reasons. This became known on January 7, 2022.

Military personnel are required to use the locally developed messaging app Threema.

According to bleepingcomputer, one of the reasons for this decision "was the need to ensure information security."

The Swiss army also posted recommendations on Facebook, characterizing Threema as a secure, ad-free communication tool that provides end-to-end encryption and leaves no digital footprint.

Threema is based in Switzerland and is not subject to the laws of any other countries, such as the United States, where the so-called CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act) obliges American technology firms to provide data based on legitimate requests^[14].

2021

Durov criticized American messengers

Durov accused Signal and other messengers of introducing backdoors on the orders of the US government. This became known in December 2021.

Earlier, Signal Moxie Marlinspike criticized the Telegram messenger, saying that its security was greatly exaggerated. According to him, even Facebook Messenger and he provides users with a higher level of security, if only because it uses end-to-end encryption, while Telegram stores the entire history of correspondence in text form on the company's servers without any encryption and protection of personal data.

On his Telegram channel, Durov criticized the American messengers, which, despite end-to-end encryption, still transmit the contents of messages to third parties in real time. As evidence, he recently brought flowed away to the Web an internal guide for FBI extracting messages and metadata from instant messengers.

I'm not surprised. Many other apps couldn't guarantee their users complete privacy, even if they wanted to. Because their engineers live in the US, they have to secretly inject backdoors into apps when ordered by the government. If the engineer declares this publicly, he can go to prison for violating a non-disclosure agreement, Durov said.

According to the founder of Telegram, in most cases, special services do not even need a court warrant to extract classified information from instant messengers, and sometimes court documents are strictly classified.

{{quote 'Some applications considered protected from the very beginning are funded by the government (for example, Anom, Signal), - summed up^[15]. }}

Mishustin approved the rules for identifying messenger users

In October 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a government decree approving the rules for identifying messenger users. This document replaced the decree of October 27, 2018 No. 1279, which has now become invalid.

According to the rules approved by the Cabinet of Ministers and effective March 1, 2022, confirmation of the reliability of the phone number is carried out by the mobile operator at the request of the messenger (for example, using a confirmation code sent to the subscriber via SMS).

The telecom operator does not inform the instant messaging organizer of any personal data about his subscriber, but only informs about the presence or absence of information about the subscriber in his databases. "Identification" in this case only involves establishing the validity of the subscriber number. The operator is given 20 minutes to confirm the validity of the number from the moment the request is received.

If the operator does not provide the owner of the messenger with information about the subscriber within the established period or notifies about the absence of information about the subscriber and his number in his database, the identification will be considered failed. In this case, the messenger is obliged to prevent further exchange of messages from this user. The operator, in turn, must record in its database the record of which messengers each number is tied to.

The owner of the messenger is obliged to prevent the transmission of user messages without going through the identification procedure. In case of termination of the contract between the subscriber and the operator or changing the information about the user of the subscriber number, the operator must notify the owner of the messenger within 24 hours. Upon receipt of such a notification, the service organizer is obliged to re-identify the user. The approved rules will be valid until March 1, 2028.^[16]

Comparison of messenger functionality

What user data are collected by popular instant messengers

Recently, a large number of users have decided to abandon the use of the WhatsApp messaging platform due to the consequences of changing their privacy policy and switch to the Signal messenger. People were concerned that WhatsApp would start transferring data to its parent company Facebook^[17].

Apple required companies to publish their privacy policies and be clear about what they were doing with user data. As the publication reported, ZDNet now it is possible to compare what information WhatsApp, Signal, and collect Telegram. Facebook

WhatsApp

The following data can be collected and associated with a user's identity: IDs (device ID), usage data (advertising data), analytics (purchase history, approximate geolocation, phone number, various user content, user and device IDs, product interaction, advertising data, failure, performance and diagnostic data), product personalization (user content), application functionality (purchase history, payment information, approximate geolocation, email address, phone number, contacts, various user content and user support, user and device identifiers, product interaction, advertising data, failure data, performance and diagnostics).

Signal

The messenger collects the following data that is not related to the user's identity: the functionality of the application (phone number).

Telegram

The following data can be collected and associated with the user's identity: the functionality of the application (name, phone number, contacts, user ID).

Facebook

The following data can be used to track a user in applications and websites owned by other companies: contact information (physical address, email address, name, phone number), identifiers (user and devices).

Data that can be collected and associated with a user's identity: third-party advertising (purchase history, financial information, exact and approximate location, physical address, email address, name, phone number, contacts, photos or videos, gameplay content, search and viewing history, user and device IDs, product interaction information, advertising data, failure data, performance and diagnostics), and developer advertising or marketing, analytics, product personalization, and application functionality.

2020: The European Union intends to introduce a ban on end-to-end encryption in instant messengers

The Council of Ministers of the EU decided to oblige operators of platforms such as WhatsApp, Signal and others to create master keys for monitoring chats and messages with end-to-end encryption. The reason for this resolution was the terrorist attack in Vienna. This became known on November 9, 2020. Read more here.

2019

The Ministry of Communications did not support the initiative to block e-mail and instant messengers

On November 8, 2019, it became known that Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation did not support the bill to block email for disseminating illegal information. According to the proposed initiative, mail services and instant messengers should block users who distribute prohibited information or false messages. Read more here.

Blocking of messenger users may be introduced in the Russian Federation

On October 9, 2019, it became known that blocking of users of email services and instant messengers engaged in the dissemination of prohibited information may be introduced in Russia. Read more here.

Five Eyes requires access to encrypted messenger messages

The countries participating in the Five Eyes association, which includes, Australia,, and Canada New Zealand, Great Britain USA require the introduction of a backdoor enciphering in applications such as,, and WhatsApp Facebook other Instagram instant messengers.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel accused Facebook of aiding child molesters, drug dealers and terrorists, the Telegraph reported. According to Patel, end-to-end encryption helps attackers communicate with each other, while law enforcement agencies cannot access key information to investigate crimes^[18].

According to representatives of the Five Eyes member countries, technology companies should include in the operation of their encrypted products and services mechanisms by which the government, acting with appropriate legal powers, can access data in a readable and usable format.

According to Facebook, the backdoor not only circumvents encryption, but it also creates a vulnerability. End-to-end encryption means that only the sender and recipient can read encrypted messages. This excludes everyone else, including the company itself. The UK Government Communications Centre (GCHQ) has proposed the Ghost Protocol as a solution.

The United States wants to ban Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal

The administration of US President Donald Trump (Donald Trump) is considering the possibility of introducing a ban for technology companies on the use of types of encryption that cannot be opened by law enforcement agencies^[19].

This definition also includes end-to-end encryption methods, which ensure that only the sender and direct recipient can read the data transmitted via the Internet. These methods use popular messaging programs, including Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal and others. If restrictions are imposed on the use of encryption, these messengers may be outlawed.

Senior American officials discussed the feasibility of such a ban at a meeting of the National Security Council on June 26, 2019, which was attended by representatives of key US ministries. This was reported by the American edition of Politico, citing its own sources familiar with the situation.

In Russia, the rule for identifying messenger users by phone number came into force

On May 5, 2019, it became known that the decree of the Russian government obliging operators messengers to identify of their users by phone number entered into force. The Prime Minister RUSSIAN FEDERATION Dmitry Medvedev signed the corresponding document on November 6, 2018.

Before the rules came into force, messengers authorized the user using a code sent in an SMS message.

The identification procedure involves direct interaction of the messenger with the mobile operator. From now on, when registering a user, the messenger is obliged to request data about it from the operator, which must be provided within 20 minutes.

After successful completion of the procedure, the user is assigned a unique number by which he can carry out. authorization The unique number itself is entered by the operator into a special register indicating which service the client uses.

If the client terminates the contract for the provision of services with the operator, the operator is obliged to inform the messenger about this within 24 hours, after which the latter must re-identify the user or de-authorize him.

Users authorized before these rules come into force will not need to re-authenticate if the operator and messenger data match.

For refusing to work according to the new rules for instant messengers, a fine of 1 million rubles is provided, as well as blocking.

As it became known, all the interviewed mobile operators from the Big Four Beeline(",," " MTS and) Megaphone Tele2 said they were ready to fulfill these requirements.

The head of Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov, also said that this decision will ensure the safety of Russians, since the possibility of anonymous communication in instant messengers "complicates the activities of law enforcement agencies."

Since April 2018, the Telegram messenger has been formally blocked in Russia due to the refusal of the company's management to transfer encryption keys to the FSB. At the beginning of May 2019, Roskomnadzor failed to completely restrict access to the messenger, however, as a result of attempts to do this, Russians began to experience problems with access to hundreds of other sites and services^[20].

2018

Messengers in Russia are the most popular function of smartphones

On September 18, 2018, it became known that a study by Deloitte showed that instant messengers in Russia are the most popular function of smartphones - 93% of users use them. Thus, messengers overtook cellular voice calls in popularity.

Deloitte study

In 2018, communication through instant messengers became more popular among Russians than cellular calls. This conclusion was reached by specialists from the consulting company Deloitte, which published the study "Media Consumption in Russia - 2018."

The study was conducted in June 2018 and covered 8 federal districts, 46 subjects and more than 250 localities.

Different types of communication

Messengers took first place among the functions that Russians use on smartphones - 93% of users communicate through them. Almost half of the respondents note that they began to use instant messengers more often. At the same time, the gap between the share of those who began to use more often and those who began to use less often - the so-called demand index - increased by 15 pp and amounted to plus 40%.

In addition, respondents note that they began to make voice calls more often to the Internet - in this case, the demand index rose to plus 19%. However, cellular voice calls are still more popular than cellular calls. to the Internet At the same time, the demand index - SMS messages fell to minus 39%, and video games - to minus 35%.

Deloitte notes an increase in the share of cellular calls among men. For women, this figure was 18 pp lower. In addition, the popularity of cellular calls in Moscow turned out to be two times lower than the average for Russia, and the indicator of the demand for calls via the Internet in the capital was 14 pp higher. In St. Petersburg, on the contrary, cellular calls are more popular.

The most popular messengers

The most popular messenger was WhatsApp - 69% of smartphone owners use it. 57% of respondents use Viber, and 45% use Skype. The researchers noted a decrease over the past year by 7 pp in the share of users who have Skype installed on their smartphones. The index of use of this messenger decreased by 5 pp.

Telegram is installed on smartphones by 25% of respondents, and the indicator showed an increase of 8 pp. The index of use of this messenger increased by 3 pp over the year and reached 10%.

Other studies

In March 2018, Ernst & Young concluded that about 8% of Russian users prefer to make voice calls using instant messengers rather than voice calls in cellular networks. Another 31% of Russians at that time used instant messengers and cellular communications equally often, and 50% more often used cellular communications. Only 11% of users did not use instant messengers in normal circumstances, resorting to them only if cellular communications were not available.

WhatsApp was also recognized as the most popular messenger in the course of the study - 65% of respondents used it. Another 43% of respondents used Skype, 42% - Viber, and 22% - Telegram. Ernst & Young analysts noted that Telegram most noticeably increased its audience over the year, and Skype had the most significant outflow of users.

In February 2018, analysts at the VimpelCom mobile operator, analyzing the impersonal data of their subscribers, noted that the number of messenger users in Russia increased by 7% from January to December 2017. At the same time, the average number of messengers used by one user increased from December 2016 to December 2017 from 1.73 to 3 pieces ^[21] smartphones].

French authorities have developed their own alternative to WhatsApp and Telegram

The French government has begun testing its own secure messenger, which will store all the data of officials inside the country. The new messenger is designed to protect high-ranking government officials from spying on private conversations, Reuters news agency reported in April 2018^[22].

Authorities are concerned about possible data leaks if information is encrypted in the United States or Russia. Currently, only 20 officials take part in testing the new messenger, but by the summer the use of the service will become mandatory for all government employees. The state messenger was created on the basis of open source code available on the network, and in the future ordinary citizens will be able to use it, the source said. The interlocutor of the agency did not specify what code is in question, or what the messenger is called.

As noted, the desire to develop its own messenger may be due to the commitment of French President Emmanuel Macron to the Telegram service, which he and his associates used to discuss working issues during the election campaign. However, earlier this year, due to security concerns, tools were installed on work smartphones of French government officials that block access to WhatsApp and Telegram.

Blocking Telegram

On April 13, 2018, the Tagansky District Court of the city Moscow satisfied the claim of Roskomnadzor to block messenger Telegram due to the refusal to transfer the keys to the supervisory authorities (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation). enciphering

Main article Telegram Messenger

In the Russian Federation, messengers were forbidden to talk about their cooperation with the FSB

A number of changes have been made to the way the organizers of the dissemination of information on the Internet interact with law enforcement agencies. This was reported on January 22, 2018 by the TASS news agency Russian Information Agency.

According to the changes made, the administration of the organizer of the dissemination of information (that is, the messenger) should monitor "non-disclosure of any information about specific facts and the content of such interaction to third parties." In other words, the messenger has no right to inform anyone about its cooperation with law enforcement agencies. Also, the Government of the Russian Federation introduced a ban on the placement of software and hardware used in the framework of such interaction, not on Russian territory.

Among other things, from now on, the messenger administration must provide the FSB with remote access to its information system no later than three months after receiving the appropriate notification from the special services.

Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection," establishing additional rules for instant messengers "

On January 1, 2018, the Federal Law of 29.07.2017 No. 241-FZ "On Amendments to Articles 10.1 and 15.4 of the Federal Law" On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection "entered into force, establishing additional rules for instant messengers.

According to the amendments, the organizers of instant messaging services (hereinafter referred to as Internet messengers) are required to identify users by subscriber number (mobile phone number). A number of duties are also established, in particular, to ensure the confidentiality of transmitted electronic messages, to ensure that users refuse to receive electronic messages from other users.

In addition, the Law directly establishes the obligation of Internet messengers - Russian legal entities and citizens to keep information about the identification of a subscriber number only in Russia. You can transfer such information to third parties only with the consent of the user.

In accordance with the new provisions, Internet messengers will be obliged to limit the possibility of exchanging messages by users of Internet messengers from the moment they receive the relevant requirement from the authorized body, as well as in cases and in order that will be determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

2017

Tajikistan authorities banned calls through instant messengers

At the end of 2017, the communications service under the Government of Tajikistan sent a letter to local cellular operators and Internet providers to cancel NGN telephony licenses from these companies. This was reported by the publication "Asia-plus"^[23].

As a result, telecom operators were forced to block the corresponding service. True, operators do not have a final understanding of what exactly they are required of, in connection with which some providers limited themselves to blocking access to NGN services from foreign IP addresses.

One of the local mobile operators "Babylon" did not have time to fulfill the requirement of the authorities in time. As a result, on December 15, 2017, its head office of services in the capital of the republic, Dushanbe, was sealed by the Communications Service. After disabling access to NGN services from foreign IP addresses, the operator's office resumed work.

A fine of up to a million rubles for violating the law on instant messengers

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed^[24]" the law on liability for non-compliance by the organizers of messaging services with the duties assigned to them by the legislation of the Russian Federation. The document is posted on the official Internet portal of legal information.

The corresponding changes were made to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Federal law comes into force on January 1, 2018.

The State Duma adopted in December 2017 in the third (and final) reading a bill that establishes a system of fines for non-compliance with the law on instant messengers. We are talking only about administrative responsibility, but access to the guilty messenger can be blocked by a court decision^[25].

Fines are set at 3-5 thousand rubles for individuals, 30-50 thousand for officials and from 800 thousand to 1 million for legal entities. The document adopted by the State Duma supplements the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation with Article 13.39.

The document also notes that for administrative offenses provided for in this article, persons engaged in entrepreneurial activities without the formation of a legal entity bear administrative responsibility as legal entities.

The law on messengers itself was originally developed by the Media Communication Union, it was submitted to the State Duma by deputies Alexander Yushchenko (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), Marina Makabenova (United Russia) and Oleg Nikolaev (Fair Russia). It sets a number of rules for both the companies themselves and those who use messaging functions in applications. In particular, companies must introduce mandatory user identification by the number of the mobile operator. To do this, messengers will have to conclude contracts with the operators themselves.

In addition, messengers will oblige within 24 hours from the moment of receipt of the relevant requirement of the authorized federal executive body to limit to a specific user the possibility of using the service, as well as sending information, the distribution of which is prohibited in Russia.

At the same time, the law prescribes to create conditions for the confidentiality of messages exchanged by users and protect them from receiving unwanted messages. Another point indicates the need to disseminate important information by Russian government agencies using instant messengers: we can talk about various emergency notifications.

FSB considers it necessary to ban anonymity in instant messengers

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation advocates a ban on anonymity in instant messengers. This was announced on October 4, by the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, during the XVI meeting of the heads of special services, security and law enforcement agencies in Krasnodar.

As Bortnikov explained, Internet services are gaining more and more popularity among terrorists. With their help, communication channels are created to coordinate the actions of both individual militants and entire cells. Without such communication channels, the activities of terrorist organizations as network structures are impossible, said the director of the FSB.

Social networks and instant messengers are used by terrorists not only for coordinating actions, but also for propaganda. To date, the number of sites belonging to terrorist organizations has crossed the ten thousandth mark, and the number of pages in social networks is in the hundreds of thousands. With the help of psychological methods of influence, criminals attract new members to their ranks, raise money and teach how to commit sabotage and terrorist acts.

According to Bortnikov, members of all terrorist groups discovered in the Russian Federation maintained contact with each other using secure messengers. For example, when preparing a terrorist attack in the St. Petersburg metro in April of this year, a suicide bomber and his accomplices received instructions from the leadership of the ISIS organization (Daesh, banned in Russia) through WhatsApp and Telegram.

In connection with all of the above, the FSB considers it necessary to expand the powers of the special services in organizing operational and technical measures and take measures to ban anonymity in instant messengers.

The requirement of Roskomnadzor to register with telecom operators

In November 2017, Roskomnadzor will send an official requirement to operators of instant messaging services to register with Russian telecom operators to comply with the law on instant messengers. In case of refusal, the service will be blocked on the territory of Russia, said the head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov.

Amendments to the federal law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" oblige the administrations of messaging services to identify users by phone numbers,, if necessary, restrict the transmission of messages, as well as conduct mass mailing of messages from Russian government agencies and limit the distribution of illegal content. Earlier, the Russian government submitted for public discussion a project allowing messengers to identify users without their consent.

According to Alexander Zharov, Roskomnadzor will prepare a special electronic system of interaction with telecom operators to maintain the register of instant messengers. Since services may need time to comply with legislative norms, the department intends to consider each situation separately and make certain concessions in terms of deadlines, however, in case of refusal to cooperate, the service will be blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation, Zharov noted.

Messengers will oblige to moderate user messages

On July 20, it became known that the State Duma adopted in the second reading a bill on the regulation of online messengers. The document containing amendments to the Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" was submitted to parliament at the end of May by deputies Maria Mukabenova (United Russia), Oleg Nikolaev (Just Russia faction) and Alexander Yushchenko (Communist Party).^[26]

In the first reading, the bill was approved in mid-June 2017. By the second reading, the bill underwent a number of changes, including in terms of terminology. Thus, instead of the term "information and communication service for instant messaging," the term "information distributor" (ARI) was used, introduced in the Law "On Information" back in 2014 and related to sites and programs for computers intended for user messaging.

In general, the bill is devoted to regulating ARIs, which provide their users with the opportunity to exchange messages exclusively with each other without the possibility of transmitting messages to an indefinite circle of people and posting public information on the Internet. Also, when sending messages, the user must specify their destinations.

User identification

The owner of the messenger should work only with users who will be identified using their cell numbers. The identification procedure will be approved by the government. To carry out identification, the owner of the messenger will need to conclude agreements with telecom operators.

However, the current version of the document provides for relaxation for owners of instant messengers from among Russian individuals and legal entities: they will be able to carry out identification on their own, without concluding contracts with telecom operators, in the manner established by the government. At the same time, Russian messenger owners will have to store authorization information about users exclusively in Russia and not transmit it without the consent of the users themselves.

Message Moderation

In addition, the revised version of the bill added a clause according to which the owner of the messenger, at the request of the authorized executive body, will be obliged to stop distributing messages or information to specific users within 24 hours in violation of Russian law. The corresponding procedure will also be determined by the government.

Earlier, the bill spoke about the obligation to block, at the request of the authorities, the mass distribution of messages violating Russian law. Instead, the current version of the document spelled out a clause obliging messenger owners not to allow the exchange of messages "in the cases and procedure established by the government."

In addition, the owner of the messenger will be obliged to ensure the confidentiality of transmitted messages, provide the authorities with the opportunity to carry out mass mailing to users and provide them with the opportunity to refuse to receive messages from other users.

Punishment for failure to comply with the law

For failure to comply with the requirements of the bill, blocking access to the messenger from the territory of Russia, which will be carried out by Roskomnadzor by a court decision, is provided.

Popular social networks and instant messengers may oblige to create a branch in Russia

In July 2017, a bill was submitted to the State Duma that will oblige popular social networks and instant messengers to create a branch in Russia.

If the law is adopted from January 1, 2018, all social networks and instant messengers used by more than two million Russians (for example, Facebook and Telegram fall under this definition) will be required to open a representative office in Russia.

In addition, they will be obliged to create a form for sending complaints about information "that is clearly aimed at promoting war, inciting national, racial or religious hatred and enmity, unreliable and (or) defaming the honor and dignity of another person or his reputation." Such information of social networks and instant messengers will have to be deleted within 24 hours. Moreover, deleted information will need to be saved for three months. You will also need to delete copies of deleted messages after they appear.

How social networks and instant messengers will have to check the reliability criteria and other user claims in a day is not specified.

For failure to comply with these requirements for social networks and instant messengers, fines are assumed: for individuals - from 3 to 5 million rubles, for firms - from 30 to 50 million rubles. Read more about this in the article "In Russia, they can introduce multimillion-dollar fines for lying on social networks."

Messenger bill

The State Duma adopted a bill on messengers

The State Duma adopted in June 2017, on the first reading, a bill on the regulation of online messengers. The document was originally developed by the Media Communication Union, it was submitted to the State Duma by deputies Alexander Yushchenko (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), Marina Makabenova (United Russia) and Oleg Nikolaev (Fair Russia)^[27].

The bill is an amendment to the Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection." The document introduces the concept of information and communication service - this is "an information system or program for computers, which is intended or used for receiving, transmitting and processing electronic messages of Internet users, including for transmitting electronic messages to an indefinite circle of people."

Another new concept is the information and communication service of instant messaging (ICS OMS). This is "an information system or computer program that is intended or used for technologically inextricably linked with messaging services exclusively between users of this system, in which the sender of an electronic message determines the recipient of an electronic message and does not provide for the placement of public information by users on the information and telecommunication network of the Internet and the transmission of electronic messages to an indefinite circle of people."

The OMS ICS will have to identify its users without fail. Identification will be carried out on the basis of a separate order, which will be approved by the government. At the same time, mobile operators will become the base, and IKS OMS will have to conclude relevant agreements with them (the government will develop a standard form of such agreements).

Also, ICS OMS will be obliged, at the request of the authorities, to stop sending mass electronic messages, as well as transmitting messages that violate the law. Other responsibilities of messengers will be to ensure the confidentiality of transmitted messages, provide a technical opportunity for users to refuse to receive messages, as well as provide government authorities with the opportunity to mass send messages to users.

If the OMS ICS does not comply with the authorities' requirements to stop transmitting messages that violate the law or to stop transmitting messages from unidentified users, Roskomnadzor, based on a court decision, will block access to the corresponding messenger from Russia. Also, fines are introduced into the Code of Administrative Offenses for owners of IKS compulsory medical insurance.

May project

A bill was submitted to the State Duma in May 2017, which proposes to oblige messengers to identify users. Identification will be carried out by the telecom operator by the subscriber number. Owners of instant messengers, as organizers of the exchange of information, will have to conclude special agreements with telecom operators for this. messengers will have to conclude relevant agreements with operators^[28] to^[29].

If the law is adopted, it will enter into force on January 1, 2018. The bill was introduced by United Russia deputy Maria Mukabenova, Fair Russia deputy Oleg Nikolaev and Communist Party deputy Alexander Yushchenko. Dates for its consideration have not yet been set. The document was sent to the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications.

The bill obliges messengers to transmit messages only from those users who have been identified. In addition, services should take care that government agencies have the opportunity to initiate the distribution of messages to users. If the information in any message is distributed in violation of the law, the messenger should limit its distribution at the request of government agencies. The service is also responsible for ensuring that any user can refuse to receive messages from other users, and that all messages are confidential.

In case of non-compliance with all these provisions, the messenger will be blocked, as prescribed by the bill "immediately."

At the same time, the same persons introduced another bill to the State Duma, which provides for administrative punishment for failure to comply with the requirements. A fine of from p3 thousand to p5 thousand will be imposed on citizens, for officials it will be from p30 thousand to p50 thousand, for legal entities - from p800 thousand to p1 million.

Roskomnadzor blocked five messengers

Roskomnadzor blocked in May 2017 the BlackBerry Messenger, Imo and Line messengers, as well as the WeChat audiovisual chat .

The basis for the blocking was an article of the law, according to which the service must transfer data about users to the authorities.

"The addresses of these services are included in the register of prohibited sites," said Vadim Ampelonsky. He explained that the representatives of the messengers did not provide their contact details to the department on time.

The spokesman added that while representatives of BlackBerry Messenger and other services in Roskomnadzor with a request to cancel the blocking did not apply.

On May 10, Roskomnadzor excluded the WeChat messenger, China's largest messaging service, from the register of blocked sites. The company provided data to register WeChat as an "organizer of information dissemination," the agency said.

Gosmessenger. Second round of project testing

More than 20 sites, mainly regional ministries for informatization, expressed a desire and joined the project for the introduction of prototypes of state messengers. To this end, IRI decided to extend the stage of test implementations until June 2017.

The second round will summarize the preliminary results of testing the applications participating in the project, and will end simultaneously with the release of the first version of the technical assignment of the "state messenger" - the requirements that are likely to form the basis for regulating the procurement and use of communication software by the authorities.

So, in the new round, federal authorities, state corporations, and cultural institutions will be involved in testing prototypes. For example, the State Russian Museum, in which the Sibrus messenger (Kibernika LLC) developed by Russian cybersecurity specialists, announced its desire to participate in the project. According to Olga Babina, director of the virtual branch network of the museum, Sibrus will help communicate with remote branches and organize webinars due to the wide possibilities of multilateral video conferencing (VKS).

"The project of creating a state messenger, launched by the IRI last year, is expanding its borders - an increasing number of partners in the person of regional authorities, state structures and organizations are joining its implementation, testing the product and helping to refine it. This indicates their interest in implementing the initiative, which has become one of the priority areas of the Institute for Internet Development. Any innovation always begins with market research, acquaintance of future consumers with the product. Therefore, the stage of testing the state messenger is a good opportunity in practice to feel the competitiveness of Russian solutions, which will ultimately become a full-fledged and safe domestic product, "said German Klimenko Gosmessenger, Advisor to ^[30] President of Russia, Chairman of the Council of the Institute for Internet Development^[31]

.

The first round of the test implementation stage was simultaneously held in the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP), the Federal Youth Agency (Rosmolodezh), FSUE Russian Post, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, the Republic of Tatarstan, Moscow, Ulyanovsk, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod regions.

Among the new sites that will test prototypes in the next two months: the authorities of St. Petersburg, the Chechen and Chuvash Republics, Kirov, Oryol, Murmansk, Smolensk, Kaluga Regions and others.

A bill on the identification of messenger users has been developed in Russia

The Russian authorities have developed draft amendments to the law "On Communications," providing for the identification of messenger users, writes ^[32][33].

In the draft document at the disposal of the publication, in particular, it is proposed to include in the law the concept of "information and communication services for instant messaging."

Telecommunication e-messaging services, the bill says, are inextricably linked to communications services. Operators providing such services must provide the Ministry of Internal Affairs with software that allows you to identify the user.

Amendments regarding instant messengers, Kommersant writes, may be included in the new bill on simplifying the business of mobile operators. Along with this bill, according to the sources of the publication, amendments may also be made to the State Duma, providing for fines for the illegal distribution of SIM cards.

Deutsche Bank bans employees from WhatsApp

GermanDeutsche Bank banned its employees from using, and messengers WhatsApp Google Talk on iMessage corporate phones, according to Bloomberg^[34]

It is noted that such a measure is due to the fact that text messages, unlike letters sent by e-mail, cannot be stored on the company's servers.

"We

are acutely aware that such a decision will change your day-to-day work and we regret the inconvenience caused. Nevertheless, this step is necessary for Deutsche Bank to continue to comply with regulatory and legal requirements, "the company said in an appeal to employees

.

Earlier, researchers at the University of Berkeley said they discovered a vulnerability in WhatsApp that allows users to read their correspondence.

2016

Kaliningrad officials banned Skype, WhatsApp and Gmail

Kaliningrad municipal institutions banned the use of products and services of foreign Internet companies. The corresponding order was signed by the deputy head of the city administration Anna Appolonova. It is reported by "New Kaliningrad"^[35].

It follows from the document that the ban applies to organizations subordinate to the Appolonova Committee on Social Policy, and to employees of the committees on social policy and education of the city administration.

In her order, Appolonova refers to the order of the Kaliningrad administration of August 17 on the use of the products of Russian companies in the activities of the mayor's office. The official explains his decision by ensuring the information security of social institutions.

Among the products that fell under the ban were, messengers Skype, and Facebook Messenger, Viber WhatsApp e-mail,,, Gmail Yahoo Hotmail as well as mail "" (Yandex due to Netherlands the joint-stock company Yandex N.V., registered in 2004, which is the head structure of the holding), cloud services,, ",." Dropbox Google DriveYandex.Disk Microsoft One Drive

As an alternative, Appolonova proposes, for example, to use ICQ and QIP services.

Russian "messenger for officials" should not work with MacOS

In November 2016, at the disposal CNews was a draft concept for creating a universal instant messaging system (messenger) for federal and regional executive bodies, developed by (Institute for Internet Development IRI). The document was written as part of a project carried out by the institute to create a domestic messenger, which will be used by officials.

The document indicates that now in Russia from 50 million to 60 million people use instant messengers. The most popular of them is Viber (it is installed in 61% of users), WhatsApp is in second place (49%), Skype ^[36] is in third place with a large margin: ^[37].

Why officials should not use foreign Viber and WhatsApp

"The information disseminated through such a channel is not subject to any protection against unauthorized access, since it is stored on the operator's servers and access to it is not recorded or disclosed for government agencies," the authors of the document warn. "This means that such information has every chance of being exaggerated without any traces of" hacking "both by the service operator himself and by those to whom the operator can potentially provide such an opportunity, and is used at the discretion of the owner of such access."

Since the information exchanged by civil servants is non-public, and often secret (including it can contain state secrets), the existing practice "carries a threat to the country's national security," the Concept warns. Earlier, the heads of a number of law enforcement agencies have already spoken out in favor of banning their employees from using foreign messengers.

In addition, the current set of communications software in government agencies no longer meets the modern requirement: for example, a civil servant spends an average of 90 minutes on sending one letter. All this means the need to create a separate Russian messenger for officials.

Officials will not be able to run instant messengers on MacOS

The authors of the concept distinguish two types of future state messenger: ordinary and for transmitting information containing state secrets. A regular state messenger will have to run on Windows, Linux (AltLinux or Goslinux), iOS, Android and Open Mobile Platform (SailfishOS) operating systems. At the same time, the list of platforms that the future state messenger must support is missing MacOS (and other names of the operating system for Apple computers ).

In addition, the state messenger will have to work through web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), as well as work in the form of a Solution SaaS (Software is the Service). The product will have to be able to work offline, providing access to the message archive.

The messenger must be registered in the Register of domestic software and have integration with state information systems: ESIA (Unified System of Identification and Authentication), ESPD (Unified System of Software Documentation), SMEV (System of Interdepartmental Electronic Interaction) and FAP (Fund of Algorithms and Programs).

The product must be certified by the FSTEC - for the technical protection of confidential information, by the FSB - for the means of cryptographic protection of information, as well as certification at the request of the absence of undeclared capabilities. The application must transmit data in encrypted form (using the https protocol), support end-2-end encryption and PIN lock. The time for deploying the messenger not to the organization's server should be no more than one working day, and the time for training employees to work with it should be no more than 1 hour.

The application should be able to integrate into the corporate intranet system for access to mail, documents and calendar. User registration should be carried out at the e-mail address or through the corporate LDAP server, the password recovery function should also be supported. Among the users should be those who have administrator rights.

"Tree" of contacts for officials

The messenger should provide a transparent database of employees of the organization with limited visibility for non-management personnel, incomplete visibility for link managers and full visibility for the head of the entire structure. In addition, a drop-down contact tree visible to all employees and the ability to import a contact into groups from the internal system must be available.

Contacts must be divided into many levels with different rights and capabilities. The level is assigned to one employee association on the basis of belonging to one subdivision, the same rank or position. By default, visible user contacts contain all members of the same level, level manager, and level contacts below. Then, everyone with whom he ever communicated in the messenger is added to the user's contacts, while sending a request is required to communicate with other people from other levels.

Messages can be sent between two users or within a group. There will be two types of communications in the messenger. Basic - Exchange messages with employees of the same department and the same organization. The second type - project - is supposed to exchange messages between structures of the same organization and between structures of different organizations within the framework of specially created project groups.

The invitation to join the group is sent by its creator or any approved member, it can be sent to both a specific user and a level manager. In the second case, if the invitation is approved, all employees who are at the level headed by this manager can be added to the group.

In the group, in addition to text messages, it will be possible to transmit emoticons, stickers, photos, documents, videos, graphic images, audio files, audio messages with decryption, etc. The group must have a repository of files sent or uploaded directly to all members of the group.

Support for hash tags and sending an urgent message should also be implemented (it will reach all members of the group, including those who have disabled notification of receiving new messages from this group). In addition to messages, you can create meetings for group members (in the format "topic - date - place").

In addition to users, "bots" will also be able to work with instant messengers. They will be able to inform employees, set tasks for employees, create events/meetings and sign documents using an EDS (electronic digital signature).

Messenger with state secrets, but without the Internet

As for the messenger for working with the state secret, authorization in it will be carried out by login and password issued to employees in an envelope against signature, and - at the same time - by EDS. The main feature of this type of instant messengers is the lack of an Internet connection: messages should be transmitted only over internal networks. The minimum requirements for supported platforms are Windows and Linux.

The messenger for state secrets will have to support the mode of creating groups with FSB and FSTEC certificates and conduct encrypted communications over encrypted channels. Messages and files transmitted in this type of messenger will have to be located inside the application and are not visible to the file system, and each message must be signed by an EDS. There should be a function of irreversible removal of any correspondence - both private and group.

The equipment on which confidential messages will be stored and processed must be located in a special room. Access to such a room will be carried out with special passes with the recording of the arrival/departure time, it should also include round-the-clock video surveillance. The equipment shall not contain connectors for I/O interfaces or access to it shall be restricted. The equipment itself must be "securely attached to furniture to prevent it from being taken out."

Yandex and Mail.ru opposed the regulation of instant messengers and online cinemas

Yandex and Mail.ru. protested against the bill to regulate web messengers and online cinemas on the Russian market in November 2016

Yandex and Mail.ru filed a statement with the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications regarding the draft law on the regulation of instant messengers. The companies believe that the proposed option of regulation will only limit the development of Russian services for the rapid exchange of messages and audiovisual online resources.

The Media and Communications Union (ISS) previously introduced a proposal according to which messenger companies should identify users and conclude contracts with Russian telecom operators, as well as introduce a restriction on the dissemination of information, in particular one that violates Russian law. Under the bill, foreign participation in the authorized capital of the same online cinemas should be no more than 20%.

Web companies in a letter to the Minister of Communications of Russia Nikolai Nikiforov expressed concern about the current situation: "The proposed restriction of foreign capital in audiovisual services will help reduce the availability of legal content, the departure of foreign investors from the Russian market, and the lack of competition in this market will lead to a deterioration in the quality of services and market degradation in this part"^[38].

IRI finalists

The Institute for Internet Development (IRI) has selected 13 domestic messengers, the best of them will be able to be used by officials for official correspondence and business communication. IRI was the initiator of the introduction of the "state mass." This initiative was later supported by the Ministry of Communications and Rostelecom in order to strengthen the digital sovereignty of Russia and prevent leaks of important state information.

In the fall of 2016, experts Internet from the Institute for Development IRI () completed testing messengers that claim to be state-owned. Of the 34 applicants, thirteen products were selected. Among them are the following: messengers

• Sibrus (developer of Kibernika LLC)
• Staply (LLC + Primavera LLC, CST innovation PJSC; VimpelCom three versions)
• Answer"" (LLC UKT"")
• Actor (LLC "Aktor") *
• eMotion (PJSC Megafon)
• "Cube" (LLC "Platform Cube")
• Flodium (OMMG Technologies LLC)
• Titanium (Rocket LLC)
• ICQ2016 (LLC Mail.Py"")
• Dialog (LLC Dialog"")
• Bellchat (FSUE GlavNIVC of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation)
• B2G Messenger (PJSC Rostelecom)
• RTIMS (LLC RT-Inform"").

Presumably, testing will last for three months and will end in January 2017^[39].

Arseny Shcheltsin, director of project activities at the Institute for Internet Development (IRI), said that "projects were announced for the competition that even exceed the basic requirements of IRI in terms of information protection."

For example, the development of the Research Institute of SOKB: SafePhone from the Research Institute of SOKB, ViPNet Connect (OJSC InfoTeCS), Secret Phone (LLC Security Code). Experts recommended that they be taken out for separate testing and application outside the current project. It is also worth noting products tailored for certain types of communications: Enkrypt (for lawyers), KliChat (for sellers), Knockchat (for neighbors), IQ300 (for tasks) and others. Their experience can be useful in other projects, "he says. - IRI will continue to cooperate with all selection participants. Next, it is necessary to determine in which regions which products will be tested. After pilot tests, the necessary management functionality, security requirements, rules for the formation and storage of a database of contacts of officials, a single protocol for the interaction of various state messengers will be indicated, the cost of launching and maintaining products will be named, he added.

By the way, not only the servants of the people themselves, but also ordinary users will be able to use such applications for officials. This was agreed at the IRI working group. True, a special encrypted data transfer protocol will be developed for communication between officials. For ordinary users, they will make a public version that runs on a different protocol.

Test mode for finalists of the project "state messenger"

Since the fall of 2016, it is planned that finalist messengers in test mode will be introduced in the structures of the Federal Bailiff Service, the Russian Post, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, in the constituent entities of Russia: Moscow, Ulyanovsk, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod regions, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Udmurt Republic, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The project curators declare that as a result, civil servants will not have one messenger, and the "docking" of different applications will carry out a special data transfer protocol.

According to the plan of the Institute for Internet Development (IRI), the state messenger is an important part of ensuring national digital sovereignty and - at the same time - a window of opportunity for Russian programmers who competitively receive a guaranteed large-scale market within the country. It should become a means of prompt communication of Russian officials when working with official information. It is planned that the future state messenger will provide its owner with a high degree of data protection, a "directory" of contacts of all Russian civil servants, a hierarchical communication system.

Notes