An official statement from Rakuten Viber regarding the messenger blocking expression emphasized that free and secure communication is a fundamental and vital human right.

We learned about the decision of the authorities of the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine to block Viber in the Donbass. We strongly oppose any blocking of our service. This decision can be seen as another attempt to ban only accurate sources of information and limit the secure communication of people on Viber.
-it is said in the message.

In particular, in the commentary it was noted that the company is doing everything possible to make the messenger work.

Why is Viber blocked in occupied territories?

The occupying authorities of the Luhansk region described the blockade as “a response to the repeated increase in the use of services as part of the enemy’s military infrastructure to obtain data on geographic locations and locate our critical military-civilian infrastructure.”

The so-called “DPR” claimed that Viber was used “to spread malicious programs based on real attacks and to reveal the location of critical civilian and military infrastructure.”

Blocking social networks in Russia: briefly

• We will add that from March 4, on the territory of Russia, Roskomnadzor blocked the Facebook social network. The Kremlin has described Meta as an “extremist organisation”.
• Regarding the ban on Facebook, he commented, “Millions of ordinary Russians were cut off from reliable information, communication with relatives and families – quietly, without the opportunity to express their opinions.”
• Also other social networks are blocked. In particular, Roskomnadzor officially added Instagram to the register of banned sites in Russia.
• Local IT pros in Russia rushed to change their Instagram version after describing Meta as extremist. One of them is Rossgram. However, it turned out that the creators of the project used the PHP script of 2018 PixelPhoto, which is available for free for $ 69, to start a new social network.
• Interestingly, Alexander Lukashenko also held a meeting about the activities of the state media. He talked about the possibility of blocking YouTube and foreign social networks in the country.

Meanwhile, investigators identify the Russian invaders through social networks to bring them to justice. Russian pages are usually not difficult to find on the Internet, especially since their mother likes to display photos shared with her military sons. It is also interesting that in conversations with girls, the invaders often confirm information about the heavy losses of the Russian army.