New rules for anonymity messengers

The unpleasant news that we have been waiting for.

Today, May 5, in the Russian Federation, new rules for identifying users of instant messengers by phone number have come into force. The relevant 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 cellular 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), the database of cellular operators is entered in which application the client is rewritten. The messenger will also assign the user a unique identification code.
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In case of not receiving data within 20 minutes or receiving information about the absence of the subscriber in the database, the messenger is obliged to prevent the possibility of sending electronic messages.

If the user terminates the contract with the service provider, the instant messenger must be notified within 24 hours. After that, the messenger must re-identify the user. This must be done within 20 minutes after receiving the termination notice.

Russian mobile operators reported that they are ready to fulfill 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 welcome (I am not).