Blocked, blocked, but not canceled Russians began to return to WhatsApp* - the messenger increased its audience for the first time after being blocked in Russia The WhatsApp messenger on Android devices returned to growing its active audience for the first time since the beginning of the lockdown. Monthly active audiences (want) increased by 1.7% in July and 4.4% in August. Even a symbolic reduction of 0.5% in September indicates the limit of the decline and the adaptation of users to their usual communication channel, experts say. Overall, WhatsApp's users dropped by 30% between September 2025 and September 2026 (from 82 million to 57.9 million). The biggest decrease was in January compared to December (13%) and February compared to January (10%). Telegram's audience grew from September 2025 to September 2026 by 26% (from 91 million to 114 million), according to Digital Budget estimates. *Belongs to Meta, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. Chat | BOT | Site | | YUT.

Blocked, blocked, but not canceled Russians began to return to WhatsApp* - the messenger increased its audience for the first time after being blocked in Russia The WhatsApp messenger on Android devices returned to growing its active audience for the first time since the beginning of the lockdown. Monthly active audiences (want) increased by 1.7% in July and 4.4% in August. Even a symbolic reduction of 0.5% in September indicates the limit of the decline and the adaptation of users to their usual communication channel, experts say. Overall, WhatsApp's users dropped by 30% between September 2025 and September 2026 (from 82 million to 57.9 million). The biggest decrease was in January compared to December (13%) and February compared to January (10%). Telegram's audience grew from September 2025 to September 2026 by 26% (from 91 million to 114 million), according to Digital Budget estimates. *Belongs to Meta, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. Chat | BOT | Site | | YUT.