Russia’s telecoms watchdog has blocked China’s WeChat, the popular social media app developed by Tencent Holdings, the South China Morning Post said on Saturday, citing information posted on the Russian regulator’s website.
Tencent told the agencies it was checking the status of its WeChat app in Russia and was in talks with the relevant authorities.
Sanctions are stipulated for failure to discharge the various responsibilities of organizers of information distribution on the internet, the newspaper said.
Social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China, while Chinese President Xi Jinping has been a vocal advocate of so-called cyber sovereignty.
Since it launched in 2011, WeChat has become China’s most popular mobile social media platform.
