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Amid a continued campaign to increase oversight over internet access, Russian regulators have restricted access to Snapchat and placed curbs on Apple's video calling service, Apple FaceTime.

Official Reasons for the Ban

The regulatory body Roskomnadzor alleged that the two apps were utilized to organize and conduct terrorist activities inside Russia, to enlist people and engage in fraudulent activities and other crimes aimed at the populace.

The regulator said it enforced the restriction on Snapchat back on the 10th of October, even though the announcement was publicly disclosed on Thursday.

Wider Campaign of Digital Crackdown

This recent action follow similar restrictions against popular services including Google's YouTube, Meta's WhatsApp and Instagram, and the Telegram service. The campaign of censorship intensified following the 2022 military action of Ukraine.

Since Vladimir Putin, the government have pursued deliberate and comprehensive initiatives to rein in the internet. Actions have involved:

• Enacting restrictive laws.
• Banning online services that do not comply with local rules.
• Developing systems to observe and control internet traffic.

Recent Examples of Restrictions

Service for the YouTube platform was disrupted last year in what experts called deliberate throttling by regulators. Authorities attributed the issue to Google for failing to maintain its hardware in Russia.

Recently, officials further restricted internet access with broad outages of cellphone internet connections. Officials stated this was needed to thwart drone strikes, but analysts saw it as another step to increase control over the internet.

Action Against Communication Apps

Authorities has also targeted widely-used messaging platforms. Encrypted messenger Signal and the Viber service, Viber, were blocked in 2024. Furthermore, authorities outlawed calls via WhatsApp and Telegram, justifying the measure by saying the platforms were being used for crime.

Simultaneously, the state have heavily pushed a dubbed "domestic" messenger app called Max. Experts view it as a potential monitoring instrument. The service admits it will hand over data with officials if demanded, and analysts note it lacks full encryption.

Regulatory Basis and Expert Commentary

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

This label obligates that platforms have an account with the regulator and grant the FSB with entry to user data. Those failing to do so are non-compliant and may be banned.

Seleznev noted that possibly many millions of users in Russia had been using FaceTime, especially after calls were banned on WhatsApp and Telegram. He called the blocking of the service as "expected" and cautioned that other platforms refusing to comply with Roskomnadzor "will be blocked – it is inevitable."

Entertainment Sites Too Affected

In a related development, the authorities announced it was banning Roblox, stating the reason was child protection from inappropriate material. According to research group Mediascope, Roblox was the second-largest gaming site in Russia last month, with approximately eight million active users.

While it is still feasible to get around a few of these restrictions by utilizing VPN services, such tools are also often blocked by officials as well.