OREANDA-NEWS   Roskomnadzor (RCN) has announced that it has blocked the American photo and video sharing service Snapchat in Russia due to the fact that it is used to recruit criminals for terrorist activities and fraud.

"According to law enforcement agencies, Snapchat is used to organize and carry out terrorist actions in the country, recruit their perpetrators, commit fraudulent and other crimes against our citizens," the report says.

"In accordance with the rules of centralized management of the public communications network, Roskomnadzor took measures to block the service on October 10, 2025," the RCN added.

For similar reasons, the RCN on Thursday began blocking FaceTime, a video calling service on Apple devices, in Russia.

Snapchat is a mobile messaging application with attached photos and videos, created in 2011 by several students at Stanford University. According to the company, at the end of April, the number of active Snapchat users exceeded 900 million monthly.

On August 13, the RCN press service announced a "partial restriction of calls" in the Telegram and WhatsApp messengers in accordance with the materials of law enforcement agencies to counter criminals.

On October 22, the RCN announced the partial blocking of WhatsApp and Telegram messengers in the Russian Federation as part of the fight against crime.

On November 28, the RCN announced that restrictions on the territory of the Russian Federation were gradually being imposed on the WhatsApp messenger due to its refusal to comply with the requirements, they would continue, and the service could be completely blocked.