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As part of a sustained crackdown to exert greater control over online communications, state regulators have cut off access to Snapchat and placed curbs on Apple's FaceTime service, FaceTime.

Official Reasons for the Ban

Russia's communications watchdog Roskomnadzor claimed that the two apps were being used to facilitate and carry out acts of terrorism on Russian soil, to enlist people and carry out fraud and other crimes targeting Russian citizens.

The regulator said it took action on Snapchat back on the 10th of October, even though the announcement was only reported later.

Broader Campaign of Internet Control

These new restrictions come after comparable restrictions targeting popular services like Google's YouTube, Meta's WhatsApp and Instagram, and the Telegram service. The campaign of censorship escalated after the 2022 military action of Ukraine by Russia.

During the tenure of Vladimir Putin, authorities have engaged in deliberate and comprehensive efforts to curtail the internet. This has included:

• Adopting restrictive laws.
• Banning websites and platforms that refuse to cooperate with Russian regulations.
• Perfecting systems to observe and control internet traffic.

Recent Instances of Crackdowns

Access to the YouTube platform was throttled last year in a case of intentional slowing by officials. The Kremlin attributed the issue to YouTube's owner, Google for allegedly neglecting its hardware in Russia.

This summer, authorities limited connectivity with extensive outages of cellular data connections. Officials insisted this was needed to thwart Ukrainian drone attacks, but analysts argued another step to increase control over the internet.

Targeting Communication Platforms

Authorities has also moved against widely-used messaging platforms. The encrypted app Signal and the Viber service, Viber, were banned in 2024. This year, officials banned voice calls on WhatsApp and Telegram, justifying the action by claiming the two apps were being used for illegal activities.

Simultaneously, authorities have actively promoted a so-called "domestic" messenger app called "Max". Observers see it as a possible tool for oversight. The app explicitly states it will provide user information with authorities when asked, and experts note it lacks end-to-end encryption.

Legal Framework and Analyst Analysis

Per lawyer and expert Stanislav Seleznev, the legal framework views any service where users can message as an "organizer of dissemination of information".

This classification obligates that such services establish a presence with Roskomnadzor and allow Russia's security service with access to user data. Services failing to do so are non-compliant and may be banned.

Seleznev noted that possibly many millions of users in Russia had been turning to FaceTime, particularly after restrictions were placed on other messaging apps. He called the restrictions against the Apple service as "predictable" and cautioned that other sites refusing to comply with authorities "are likely to be blocked – that's obvious."

Entertainment Sites Also Affected

In a related development, the authorities also said it was restricting Roblox, citing protecting children from illicit content. According to media monitoring group Mediascope, Roblox was the second-largest game platform in Russia last month, with nearly 8 million players.

Although it is still possible to get around a few of these limitations by using virtual private network services, VPNs themselves are also often blocked by the regulator as well.