🔗 Share this article

As part of a ongoing effort to tighten control over online communications, state officials have restricted access to the social media app Snapchat and enacted limitations on Apple's video calling service, Apple FaceTime.

Official Justifications for the Block

The regulatory body Roskomnadzor claimed that the two apps were employed to facilitate and carry out terrorist activities inside Russia, for recruiting individuals and commit fraud as well as various crimes aimed at the populace.

Roskomnadzor stated it enforced the restriction on Snapchat on October 10, although the move was only reported more recently.

Broader Campaign of Online Restrictions

These latest moves follow comparable limitations targeting key apps such as YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram, and the Telegram service. These measures of bans intensified following the onset of the conflict of Ukraine by Russia.

Under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, authorities have pursued deliberate and comprehensive strategies to curtail the open internet. This has included:

• Enacting restrictive laws.
• Banning digital platforms that do not comply with local rules.
• Perfecting systems to monitor and manipulate digital communications.

Recent Examples of Crackdowns

Service for YouTube was slowed last year in an incident described as deliberate throttling by regulators. The Kremlin blamed Google for not properly maintaining its infrastructure in Russia.

Recently, authorities tightened online access with widespread outages of mobile internet connections. The government claimed this was required to thwart Ukrainian drone attacks, but critics contended a further measure to increase control over the internet.

Targeting Communication Platforms

The government has also targeted widely-used communication apps. The encrypted app Signal and the Viber service, Viber, were restricted in this year. This year, officials outlawed voice calls on WhatsApp and Telegram, defending the measure by stating the platforms were being facilitating crime.

Concurrently, authorities have heavily pushed a dubbed "domestic" messenger app called "Max". Experts view it as a potential monitoring instrument. The platform explicitly states it will share user data with the government if demanded, and analysts note it does not use strong encryption.

Regulatory Basis and Expert Commentary

Per lawyer and expert Stanislav Seleznev, Russian law defines any platform where people can communicate as an "information dissemination organizer".

This label obligates that platforms have an account with Roskomnadzor and grant state security with entry to communications. Those failing to meet these demands are breaking the law and can get blocked.

Seleznev estimated that possibly many millions of users in Russia had been relying on FaceTime, especially after restrictions were placed on other messaging apps. He described the restrictions against the Apple service as "expected" and warned that other sites that do not cooperate with authorities "will be blocked – that's obvious."

Entertainment Sites Too Affected

In a separate move, the authorities also said it was blocking Roblox, claiming it aimed at safeguarding minors from harmful content. Per data from media monitoring group Mediascope, the platform was the number two gaming site in Russia in October, with approximately 8 million players.

Although it remains feasible to bypass certain of these restrictions by using virtual private network services, such tools are frequently targeted by the regulator as well.