Russia Blocks FaceTime, Snapchat 🇷🇺📱 Big Tech Crackdown?!

Tech & Science

Russia has blocked access to Apple’s FaceTime video conferencing platform and the Snapchat instant messaging service, according to the Russian telecommunications watchdog, Roskomnadzor. The agency claims these platforms are being utilized to coordinate terrorist attacks and to facilitate recruitment of criminals, as well as the commission of fraud and other crimes targeting Russian citizens. “According to law enforcement agencies,” Roskomnadzor stated in a Thursday statement, “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.” Although the block on Snapchat was announced today, Roskomnadzor indicated that the service had been blocked on October 10th, “in accordance with the rules of centralized management of the public communication network.” As of this month, Snapchat for Android has been downloaded over 1 billion times via the Google Play Store, while the iOS version has received more than 5.2 million ratings on Apple’s App Store. FaceTime is Apple’s proprietary videotelephony platform and is preinstalled on the company’s iOS and macOS devices.