New rules for messenger anonymity

Bad news that we have been waiting for.

Today, May 5, on the territory of the Russian Federation, new rules for identifying users of instant messengers by phone number have entered into force. The corresponding government decree was published on November 6, 2018 .

Now Russian users will need to confirm that they own the phone number they use. During the identification process, the messenger will send a request to the mobile operator to find out if there is a subscriber in the database. The operator will have 20 minutes to provide an answer.

In case of successful identification (receiving a positive response about the presence of a subscriber in the database), information on which application the client is texting is entered into the database of mobile operators. The messenger will also assign a unique identification code to the user.

In case of failure to receive data within 20 minutes or to receive information about the absence of a subscriber in the database, the messenger must not allow the possibility of sending electronic messages.

If the user terminates the contract with the telecom operator, the messenger must be notified about this within 24 hours. After that, the messenger must re-authenticate the user. This must be done within 20 minutes after receiving notice of termination of the contract.

Russian mobile operators said they were ready to comply with the new requirements of the authorities. Representatives of Facebook (including Facebook Messenger), WhatsApp, Instagram and Viber did not respond to a request from journalists about whether they are ready to fulfill the new requirements.

All users are very happy (I - no).