Overview
- State watchdog Roskomnadzor confirmed a nationwide restriction on FaceTime, with users reporting failed connections and “User unavailable” messages.
- Authorities said FaceTime is used to plan attacks, recruit perpetrators and commit fraud, but they provided no public evidence to support the allegations.
- Roskomnadzor disclosed that Snapchat was blocked on Oct. 10 and confirmed new limits on FaceTime hours after announcing a separate ban on Roblox this week.
- Roblox was accused of distributing extremist material and so‑called LGBT propaganda, extending a broader clampdown that has also hit WhatsApp, Telegram calls, Signal and Viber, with YouTube heavily throttled.
- FaceTime remains end‑to‑end encrypted and may work via VPNs in some cases, while Apple and Snap did not issue immediate public comments and Apple has not granted FSB access to call data.