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3w ago

Kremlin Mandates MAX App Preinstall and Criminalizes Extremist Searches to Cement Internet Sovereignty

Combined with increased ISP licensing fees, systematic platform throttling, routine VPN shutdowns, the new laws bring Russia’s digital sphere under tighter state supervision.

An activist holds a sign reading, "For Russia without censorship. Orwell wrote a dystopia, not an instruction manual,” referring to author George Orwell during a protest in front of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, July 22, 2025, prior to lawmakers approving a measure that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist.” (AP Photo)
Pedestrians look at their phones while walking through St. Petersburg, Russia, on Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
A woman wearing a niqab, checks her phone while walking along the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
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Overview

  • A federal decree requires all smartphones sold in Russia from September to ship with the state-sanctioned MAX messaging app preinstalled and obliges government services to operate through it.
  • A new law makes online searches for broadly defined “extremist” materials a criminal offense, exposing users to fines or imprisonment for accessing a wide range of content.
  • Roskomnadzor continues to block or degrade major Western platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and routinely disrupt VPN services to steer traffic toward domestic alternatives.
  • Regulators have raised ISP licensing fees dramatically and centralized IP address management with a handful of state-aligned providers, consolidating the nation’s internet infrastructure.
  • These measures push Russia closer to a self-contained network that can be switched off from the global web at the Kremlin’s discretion.