Russia bans WeChat messaging app

Chinese internet giant Tencent said Saturday it was "deeply sorry" its messaging app WeChat was blocked in Russia, adding it was in touch with authorities to resolve the issue. WeChat, which had 889 million global users by the end of 2016, was not properly registered with Russian regulators, Tencent said.
It is not clear how many Russia-based users the app has.


"We're experiencing a block and we're deeply sorry," a company official said on a Tencent microblog. "Russian regulations say online service providers have to register with the government but WeChat doesn't have the same understanding (of the rules)," the official added.