On 5 March 2026 the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service of Russia (the FAS) released a statement to the media on the impermissibility of placing advertising on information resources whose activity has been declared undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation, and access to which has been restricted[1].
In the opinion of the FAS, it is accordingly not permissible to advertise on the following platforms: Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp (all of which belong to Meta, which Russia has banned as an extremist organisation), as well as YouTube and Telegram.
On 10 March 2026 FAS additionally reported the following on its website[2]:
- Taking into the consideration the measures by Roskomnadzor to restrict access to Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp (belonging to Meta, which Russia has banned as an extremist organisation), YouTube, VPN services, and also Telegram, FAS believes that the placement of advertising with the given resources exhibits signs of a violation of the Federal Law "On Advertising".
- "In the event that Roskomnadzor takes measures to restrict access to the given resources in accordance with the law, advertising on such resources is prohibited".
- The advertiser and the advertising distributor bear liability for the placement of advertising on the "prohibited" resources.
Note that the functionality of YouTube has been restricted since 2024, while Telegram has been restricted since the end of 2025. Prior to this, the FAS has not considered the Russian government’s measures restricting the functions of YouTube and Telegram to constitute a ban on advertising on these services.
The Federal Law "On Advertising" stipulates that distributing advertising on information resources to which access has been restricted under Russian law is prohibited[3]. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) keeps a special register of information resources and telecommunications networks to which access is restricted[4].
Neither Telegram nor YouTube are currently listed on this register, nor have they been included on a number of other registers, inclusion on which involves an advertising ban. Specific information that is banned from distribution in Russia and thus from being posted on Telegram and YouTube is entered in the unified register of prohibited information by decision of the Russian state authorities[5].
Accordingly, the position now taken by FAS raises some questions. Nonetheless, it is important to follow developments in the situation, and to be prepared for further changes to the advertising market and the approach taken by state regulators.
The international law firm ADVANT Beiten is always at your disposal for all issues related to protecting the rights of foreign companies in Russia and the other countries of the CIS and EAEU.
