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Amid a ongoing campaign to exert greater control over online communications, state officials have blocked access to the social media app Snapchat and placed curbs on Apple's FaceTime service, FaceTime.

Official Justifications for the Ban

The regulatory body Roskomnadzor claimed that both applications were utilized to organize and conduct terrorist activities inside Russia, for recruiting individuals and engage in fraudulent activities as well as various crimes aimed at the populace.

The regulator stated it took action against Snapchat on October 10, although the decision was publicly disclosed later.

Wider Context of Internet Control

This recent action are part of similar blocks imposed on popular services like YouTube, Meta's WhatsApp and Instagram, and the Telegram messaging service. The campaign of censorship began in earnest in the wake of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Since Vladimir Putin, authorities have engaged in calculated and wide-ranging initiatives to control the digital space. Measures have included:

• Adopting stringent legislation.
• Outlawing websites and platforms that refuse to cooperate with state demands.
• Advancing technical capabilities to monitor and manipulate digital communications.

Other Examples of Blocks

Service for the YouTube platform was disrupted in the past in an incident described as deliberate throttling by officials. The Kremlin attributed the issue to YouTube's owner, Google for failing to maintain its servers in Russia.

Recently, officials tightened internet access with broad outages of mobile internet connections. Officials claimed this was needed to counter Ukrainian drone attacks, but critics contended an additional move to tighten control over the digital landscape.

Targeting Communication Platforms

The government has also moved against widely-used communication apps. The encrypted app Signal and another popular app, Viber, were restricted in 2024. Furthermore, officials banned voice calls on the WhatsApp app and Telegram, justifying the action by stating the platforms were being used for illegal activities.

Concurrently, the state have actively promoted a dubbed "national" messenger app called Max. Critics view it as a possible monitoring instrument. The service explicitly states it will provide user information with officials if demanded, and experts note it is not equipped with full encryption.

Regulatory Basis and Analyst Commentary

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

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

Seleznev noted that potentially many millions of users in Russia had been turning to FaceTime, particularly after voice calls were prohibited on other messaging apps. He called the blocking of the service as "predictable" and warned that further services failing to cooperate with Roskomnadzor "will be blocked – it is inevitable."

Gaming Sites Also Targeted

In a separate development, the government announced it was banning the online game platform Roblox, stating the reason was safeguarding minors from harmful content. According to media monitoring group Mediascope, the platform was the number two gaming site in Russia recently, with nearly 8 million players.

Although it remains possible to circumvent some of these limitations by employing virtual private network services, those are routinely blocked by authorities as well.