Russia Blocks FaceTime and Snapchat Amid Security Concerns

Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked access to Apple's FaceTime and the Snapchat instant messaging service. The agency claims these platforms are being used to coordinate terrorist attacks, recruit criminals, and commit fraud against Russian citizens.

Roskomnadzor stated, "According to law enforcement agencies, the FaceTime service is used to organize and carry out terrorist attacks in the country, recruit their perpetrators, commit fraudulent and other crimes against our citizens." The block on Snapchat was implemented on October 10, 2023, but was only announced on a later date.

FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony platform that comes preinstalled on Apple's iOS and macOS devices. As of October 2023, Snapchat for Android has been downloaded over 1 billion times, while the iOS version has over 5.2 million ratings on Apple's App Store.

In addition to these blocks, Roskomnadzor also recently banned the Roblox online gaming platform for not preventing the distribution of what the agency describes as LGBT propaganda and extremist materials.

Reports have surfaced indicating that Russia plans to ban Meta's WhatsApp, a messaging platform with over 3 billion global users. This follows previous actions where Roskomnadzor blocked Viber and Signal for similar reasons related to anti-extremism and anti-terrorism legislation.

In March 2023, the agency also prohibited government and state agencies from using foreign private messaging platforms including Discord, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, Threema, Viber, WhatsApp, and WeChat, alleging these services failed to remove misinformation.