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Censorship Monitor · Russia Last test

Is Snapchat banned in Russia?

Yes. Roskomnadzor says it blocked Snapchat on 10 October 2025, and it confirmed the block on 4 December 2025. No unblocking has been reported.

Today’s test · www.snapchat.com

Blocked

www.snapchat.com fails to open on Rostelecom and MTS, twice, while it opens from other countries.

Last confirmed
Seen in our tests since
29 Sep 2026 (may be older)
How it fails
The secure connection stalls
Tested on
Rostelecom and MTS
Test Snapchat yourself › Everything we test in Russia

The official status

Snapchat in Russia

Roskomnadzor confirmed on 4 December 2025 that it had blocked Snapchat, saying the block dated from 10 October 2025. It said the app was used to organise and carry out terrorist acts, recruit people for crimes and commit fraud.

The announcement came hours after Russia restricted Apple’s FaceTime for similar reasons. No unblocking has been reported since.

What our daily test shows

One of our test machines on Rostelecom gets through anyway, most likely through a filter-dodging tool (it gets past Russia’s block of Discord too), while its neighbour on the same network and both machines on MTS are blocked. Whenever the rest of Russia is blocked, we count Rostelecom as blocking; independent tests in September and October 2026 also found Snapchat blocked on most Russian connections.

What people use instead

Max, the state-backed messenger, which has had to come pre-installed on new phones and tablets sold in Russia since 1 September 2025.

Get past a block

How to use Snapchat in Russia

A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a block on Snapchat in Russia no longer applies. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic, and you should set it up before you travel.

Using a VPN isn’t illegal in Russia, but VPN providers that won’t cooperate with the government are blocked.

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We earn a commission if you buy through these links. It never changes what the monitor shows. Our disclosure.

Around the world

Where else is Snapchat blocked?

Snapchat is also blocked in 2 other countries we test.

It opens in 21 of the 23 other countries with a current result.

Snapchat in every country we test ›

Russia

What else is blocked in Russia?

31 of the other 66 sites and apps we test are blocked in Russia.

All 67 results for Russia ›

History

Changes for Snapchat in Russia

No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.

Method

How we test

  • Every day, test machines on Rostelecom and MTS home connections open www.snapchat.com.
  • A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
  • A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
  • Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
  • We test the website over home broadband. The app, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.

Full method ›

Questions

Snapchat in Russia: questions

Does Snapchat Work in Russia?

No. Roskomnadzor says it blocked Snapchat on 10 October 2025, and it confirmed the block on 4 December 2025. No unblocking has been reported.

Why Did Russia Block Snapchat?

Roskomnadzor said Snapchat was used to organise and carry out terrorist acts in Russia, to recruit people for crimes and to commit fraud.

Is Snapchat Still Blocked in Russia?

No unblocking has been reported, and independent tests in September and October 2026 still found it blocked on most Russian connections.

Free to use

Cite this result

Quote or republish today’s result with a link to this page: the monitor’s data is under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0).

Source: vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/russia/snapchat/

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