🔗 Share this article

Amid a sustained campaign to exert greater control over digital platforms, Russian officials have restricted access to Snapchat and placed curbs on the Apple FaceTime service, Apple FaceTime.

Official Reasons for the Restrictions

The state internet regulator Roskomnadzor alleged that these services were employed to facilitate and carry out terrorist activities on Russian soil, to recruit perpetrators and carry out fraud along with other offenses aimed at the populace.

The regulator said it enforced the restriction on Snapchat on October 10, though the decision was only reported on Thursday.

Wider Campaign of Digital Crackdown

These latest moves are part of comparable restrictions imposed on popular services like Google's YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram, and the Telegram service. The campaign of bans intensified following the 2022 military action of Ukraine.

During the tenure of Vladimir Putin, authorities have pursued systematic and comprehensive strategies to rein in the internet. This has included:

• Adopting tough new laws.
• Outlawing online services that do not comply with state demands.
• Advancing technical capabilities to observe and control online traffic.

Other Examples of Restrictions

Access to YouTube was disrupted last year in an incident described as intentional slowing by regulators. Russian officials attributed the issue to Google for not properly maintaining its infrastructure in Russia.

Recently, authorities limited connectivity with widespread outages of cellular data connections. The government insisted this was required to prevent Ukrainian drone attacks, but experts contended another step to tighten control over the digital landscape.

Action Against Communication Platforms

Authorities has also acted against widely-used messaging platforms. Encrypted messenger Signal and the Viber service, Viber, were restricted in this year. This year, authorities outlawed voice calls on the WhatsApp app and Telegram, justifying the action by saying the services were being used for crime.

Simultaneously, the state have heavily pushed a so-called "domestic" communication platform called "Max". Observers see it as a possible surveillance tool. The platform explicitly states it will share user data with officials if demanded, and experts note it lacks full encryption.

Regulatory Basis and Analyst Commentary

As explained by lawyer and expert Stanislav Seleznev, Russian law views any service where users can message as an "organizer of dissemination of information".

This label mandates that such services have an account with Roskomnadzor and grant the FSB with the ability to monitor communications. Services failing to meet these demands are non-compliant and face blocking.

Seleznev estimated that possibly many millions of Russians had been using FaceTime, particularly after calls were banned on other messaging apps. He described the blocking of the service as "predictable" and warned that other sites that do not cooperate with Roskomnadzor "face blocking – it is inevitable."

Gaming Platforms Also Targeted

In a separate action, the authorities also said it was blocking Roblox, stating the reason was protecting children from illicit content. Per data from media monitoring group Mediascope, Roblox was the second-largest gaming site in Russia recently, with nearly 8 million players.

Although it remains possible to bypass certain of these restrictions by utilizing VPN services, VPNs themselves are routinely blocked by authorities as well.