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2025: Blocking the service due to refusal to transfer driver data to the authorities
At the end of August 2025, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow decided to restrict access to the website and mobile application of the premium car ordering service Wheely as a preliminary protection measure at the request of the prosecutor about the company's violation of anti-terrorist requirements. The basis for blocking was the refusal of the dispatch service to provide daily online data on taxi drivers to the Unified Regional Navigation and Information System of the capital.
According to RBC, the court ruling provides for restricting access to information posted on the Internet on the company's website, as well as to a software application on the Internet page and in the App Store. Roskomnadzor entered the Wheely web resource into the register of prohibited information in connection with the revealed violations.
According to the court document, dispatch services for ordering passenger taxis and carriers are obliged to transfer these data on drivers to ERNIS online every day. This requirement is aimed at ensuring anti-terrorist protection, as well as the safety of the life and health of passengers.
The court noted that a person who received permission to carry passengers and luggage by passenger taxi must comply with certain safety standards. Failure to comply with data transfer requirements prevents compliance with these standards.
Premium taxi service Wheely was founded in 2010 by entrepreneur Anton Chirkunov. Initially, the company began operating in London, and then opened a branch in Moscow to serve the Russian market.
Wheely differs from traditional taxi aggregators in that it does not cooperate with external taxi services, but provides its own fleet of premium cars. The company's business model is aimed at wealthy customers who prefer an increased level of comfort when traveling.[1]
2022: Listing the Wheely site in the register of prohibited information
In July 2022, Roskomnadzor entered the website of the Wheely premium car order service into the register of prohibited information. The regulator explained its decision by the decision of the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow.
 | Based on the court decision, Roskomnadzor sent a demand to the owner of the resource on the need to remove the prohibited information, and also entered the specified information resource into the Unified Register of Prohibited Information, the press service of Roskomnadzor told TASS. |  |
We are talking about information about the conduct of commercial activities by a legal entity without accredited branches or representative offices in Russia, as well as without providing information to the Unified Regional Navigation and Information System of Moscow (GIS ERNIS).
According to Russian law, the owner of the Internet resource must delete the prohibited information within 24 hours after receiving the relevant requirement of Roskomnadzor. Otherwise, access to the resource is restricted.
According to the mayor's decree in force in Moscow by July 2022, passenger transportation can be carried out subject to the provision of basic information on the movement of cars to the Unified Regional Navigation and Information System of Moscow. This requirement was fulfilled by all leading companies, except Wheely, the press service of the transport complex of the capital reported.
In response, the company said that the requirement to provide geolocation data and personal data of drivers could threaten leaks. According to the company, the provision of real-time geolocation data for drivers enables the department to monitor the movement of passengers, and also violates federal legislation on the protection of personal data.[2]
2020: Court halts Wheely over refusal to hand over geolocation of customers to authorities
On August 7, 2020, the Meshchansky Court of Moscow stopped the work of the Russian service of elite taxis Wheely due to the refusal to transfer customer data to the authorities.
Wheely had disagreements with the Moscow mayor's office in May 2020, when, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the authorities allowed taxi drivers to resume work on certain conditions.
Wheely then said that one of these conditions was the requirement of the transport department to transfer real-time geolocation data to it. The founder of the service, Anton Chirkunov, expressed the opinion that this indirectly affects the interests of passengers, since in this way surveillance is possible over their movements, including in the event of interception of data to attackers.
According to Chirkunov, accurate geolocation data can be easily combined with other data sets and, as a result, identify the passenger himself. He called the requirement to transfer geolocation data illegal and promised that the company would challenge it.
If the court rules in favor of the Moscow mayor's office, only the "quasi-state duopoly" of Yandex and Citymobil "will remain on the market, Chirkunov argued. Taxis of these aggregators, he said, "actively broadcast unencrypted geolocation data on all trips." As a result, the court suspended Wheely for 90 days.
| | The court's decision is stunning, but we are fully confident in our correctness and will appeal, - said Anton Chirkunov. | |
Earlier in 2020, the service appealed the decision of the prosecutor's office, which made an idea of signs of an administrative offense on the part of the company: according to Wheely, the requirements of the Moscow authorities to provide data on the movement of cars contradict the Constitution and federal legislation, but do not prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.[3]
Notes
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