Russia Bans Snapchat, FaceTime, Report Says

Russia banned Snap Inc.’s Snapchat and Apple Inc.’s FaceTime, further limiting access to Western communication services, according to Interfax. 

The communications agency Roskomnadzor said Snapchat and FaceTime were being used within Russia “to organize and carry out terrorist acts” and recruit perpetrators, as well as to commit fraud and other crimes, the news service cited the body as saying Thursday. 

Russia has been reducing access to Western communication services since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022. It banned US-owned social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X and limited access to YouTube, while on Wednesday it also blocked Roblox Corp.’s popular kids’ gaming platform. 

Snap declined to comment on the decision. 

The Russian authorities have stepped up restrictions on foreign services since state-owned VK Co. launched a national “super app” called Max to host government services and enable document storage, messaging, banking and other public and commercial services. 

Last month Russia warned that it may fully ban WhatsApp, the most popular messenger in the country, accusing the service of violation of local law. Roskomnadzor is trying to limit users' access to VPN services, designed to bypass restrictions, local outlet RBC reported Thursday.

Maksut Shadayev, Russia’s digital and communications minister, declined to comment to Bloomberg when asked about restrictions against messengers.