Russia blocks FaceTime and Snapchat, tightening its control online

Russian authorities said Thursday they have imposed restrictions on Apple’s video calling service FaceTime, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet and communications online.

State internet regulator Roskomnadzor alleged in a statement that the service is being “used to organize and conduct terrorist activities on the territory of the country, to recruit perpetrators (and) commit fraud and other crimes against our citizens.” Apple did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

The Russian regulator also announced that it has blocked Snapchat, a messaging app for sharing photos, videos and text messages, citing the same grounds it gave for restricting FaceTime. It said that it took the action Oct. 10, even though it only reported the move on Thursday.

Under President Vladimir Putin, authorities have engaged in deliberate and multipronged efforts to rein in the internet. They have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that don’t comply. Technology has also been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Access to YouTube was disrupted last year in what experts called deliberate throttling of the widely popular site by the authorities. The Kremlin blamed YouTube owner Google for not properly maintaining its hardware in Russia.

While it’s still possible to circumvent some of the restrictions by using virtual private network services, those are routinely blocked, too.

Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections. Officials have insisted the measure was needed to thwart Ukrainian drone attacks, but experts argued it was another step to tighten internet control. In dozens of regions, “white lists” of government-approved sites and services that are supposed to function despite a shutdown have been introduced.

The government has also acted against popular messaging platforms. Encrypted messenger Signal and another popular app, Viber, were blocked in 2024. This year, the authorities banned calls via WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app in Russia, and Telegram, a close second. Roskomnadzor justified the measure by saying the two apps were being used for criminal activities.

At the same time, authorities actively promoted a “national” messenger app called MAX, which critics see as a surveillance tool. The platform, touted by developers and officials as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments, and more, openly declares it will share user data with authorities upon request. Experts also say it doesn’t use end-to-end encryption.

Earlier this week, the government also said it was blocking Roblox, a popular online game platform, saying the step aimed at protecting children from illicit content and “pedophiles who meet minors directly in the game’s chats and then move on to real life.”

Stanislav Seleznev, cyber security expert and lawyer with the Net Freedom rights group, told The Associated Press that Russian law views any platform where users can message each other as “organizers of dissemination of information.”

This label mandates that platforms have an account with Roskomnadzor so that it could communicate its demands, and give Russia’s security service, the FSB, access to accounts of their users for monitoring; those failing to comply are in violation and can get blocked, Seleznev said.

He suggested that these regulations could have been applied to both Roblox and FaceTime.

Roblox in October was the second most popular game platform in Russia, with nearly 8 million monthly users, according to media monitoring group Mediascope.

Seleznev estimated that possibly tens of millions of Russians have been using FaceTime, especially after calls were banned on WhatsApp and Telegram. He called the restrictions against the service “predictable” and warned that other sites failing to cooperate with Roskomnadzor “will be blocked, that’s obvious.”

–Dasha Litvinova, Associated Press

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