According to AppleInsider, Russian authorities have banned Apple’s FaceTime, claiming the service helps criminals plan attacks and commit fraud, though they provided no case data or examples to support this. The block began in 2025, with users in Moscow immediately seeing “User unavailable” messages during calls, though incoming rings sometimes still appeared, causing confusion. The government promoted this as a safety measure while simultaneously rolling out its own state-backed calling app, called MAX, which critics say lacks Apple’s privacy safeguards. This follows a pattern of restrictions in 2025, including limits on WhatsApp calls and a block on Roblox over alleged extremist content. Apple did not comment on whether it received advance demands from regulators before the ban took effect.
The real reason? It’s about control
Here’s the thing: the terrorism claim is almost certainly a pretext. The real issue is that FaceTime uses end-to-end encryption. That means nobody in the middle—not Apple, and definitely not Russian security agencies—can listen in. Governments hate that. It’s the same reason they went after WhatsApp calls and VPNs. They want visibility. They want a record. And an encrypted video call from an iPhone to an iPad is a complete black box to them.
So what’s the play? Push people toward tools they can monitor. Enter MAX, the government’s homegrown alternative. It’s not a coincidence that its rollout gained “modest traction” in 2025, right as FaceTime gets the axe. Officials have been encouraging these domestic apps since sanctions expanded in 2022, aiming to reshape Russia’s entire digital ecosystem. Now, with a major Western service blocked, usage of MAX will, as the report notes, “not coincidentally grow.” People will use what works. And the government is making sure what works is what they can see into.
Impact on real people and business
This isn’t just some political chess move. It has real consequences. Families use FaceTime to connect across devices simply and securely. Businesses relied on that encryption for sensitive conversations. Now, they’re forced onto a platform that follows Russian data rules—rules that prioritize state access over user privacy.
Think about the signal that sends. It tells everyday users that private communication is suspect. It tells enterprises that their confidential talks are now subject to a different, government-friendly standard. The loss of a trusted tool pushes everyone toward a less protected reality. And in a country tightening controls on Western platforms, that’s probably the whole point.
A global pattern, watching and waiting
Russia’s move is a stark example, but it’s part of a much broader global debate. Governments everywhere are wrestling with encryption. They argue investigators need “special access” to prevent threats. Tech companies and security experts push back, warning that any backdoor for the good guys is a backdoor for the bad guys, too.
So other countries are watching. If Russia gets away with this with limited public backlash, it sets a precedent. It makes similar crackdowns seem more feasible elsewhere. The tension between privacy and oversight isn’t going away. Russia is just running a very public, very aggressive experiment in choosing oversight every single time.
Basically, the fight over encrypted comms is a fight over power. Who gets to listen in? Russia’s answer is clear: they do. And they’re systematically removing the tools that say otherwise.
