Internet & Online Safety · Russia
Internet & Online Safety - Russia
Russia operates one of the world's most restrictive internet regimes, combining centralized traffic-control infrastructure (DPI, a national DNS) with sweeping content-blocking, platform-liability and surveillance laws administered by Roskomnadzor. Rather than a single online-safety statute, the state uses overlapping censorship laws to block foreign platforms (YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram features), throttle traffic, ban VPNs, and push users toward the state-controlled MAX messenger. Through 2025–2026 controls escalated sharply, including full blocking of WhatsApp and YouTube in February 2026 and new authority to isolate or reroute traffic from March 2026.
The 2019 'Sovereign Internet' Law requires telecom operators to install Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) equipment and builds a national DNS, giving the state centralized power to manage, filter and isolate Russian internet traffic. A November 2025 government decree expanded Roskomnadzor's authority to isolate or reroute domestic traffic from March 1, 2026, on grounds of 'specific threats.'
Roskomnadzor blocks tens of thousands of resources for vaguely defined categories ('extremist activity,' 'separatism,' protest organizing, 'undesirable organizations'). In the first half of 2025 it limited access to more than 15,000 internet resources, and 2025 blocking volumes rose sharply year-on-year.
A law in force since February 2021 requires platforms with over 500,000 daily Russian users to proactively detect and remove broadly defined prohibited content, with fines up to 4 million rubles for non-compliance. The 2021 'landing law' (No. 236-FZ) forces major foreign internet firms to open local offices and register with Roskomnadzor as a liaison/enforcement point.
A law signed by Putin on July 31, 2025 (effective September 1, 2025), adding articles to the Code of Administrative Offences, fines individuals 3,000–5,000 rubles for deliberately searching for 'extremist' material (including via VPN) and imposes fines up to 80,000 rubles (individuals) and 500,000 rubles (organizations) for advertising VPN services.
Audio/video calls on Telegram and WhatsApp were blocked in August 2025; on February 11, 2026 WhatsApp and YouTube were fully blocked by removing their domains from the National DNS. By February 2026 Roskomnadzor reported blocking 469 VPN services, while Apple and Google removed hundreds of VPN apps from their Russian stores on demand.
Authorities are driving WhatsApp's ~100 million Russian users toward MAX, a state-controlled 'super-app' for messaging, payments and government services that is not end-to-end encrypted and shares user data with Russian authorities, deepening surveillance capacity.
Machine-assisted translation · verified 5/23/2026 · orientation, not legal advice. English version →