Microsoft has switched off access to Windows Live Messenger in Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea.
The software giant announced the policy change in a blog post spotted by our friends at LiveSide.
If any users in these countries attempts to sign into Messenger they will receive the following message:
810003c1: We were unable to sign you in to the .NET Messenger Service.
Work arounds are already available, signing in with a 3rd party client or setting your location in your Windows Live account to any other region will allow you to sign in again.
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Neowin that the company has discontinued Messenger services to certain countries due to United States sanctions.
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