As of September 1, 2025, you can’t place ads on internet platforms connected to organizations that are banned in Russia.
Background on the ban
This restriction comes from Federal Law No. 72-FZ, which was passed on April 7, 2025. The law amended both “On Countering Extremist Activity” (No. 114-FZ from July 25, 2002) and “On Advertising” (No. 38-FZ from March 13, 2006).
The bottom line: advertising is now prohibited on any platform owned by an organization whose activities are banned in Russia. This includes platforms run by international or foreign organizations designated as undesirable, sites and pages of organizations banned for extremism or terrorism, and other blocked resources.
Put simply, if Russian authorities have officially designated a platform as undesirable, extremist, or blocked, you can’t advertise there.
What happens if you violate the ban
Both advertisers and ad distributors face administrative liability. Here’s what the fines look like:
Up to RUB 500,000 for companies
Up to RUB 20,000 for officials
Up to RUB 2,500 for individuals
Three types of banned platforms
The law breaks this down into three specific categories.
Undesirable organizations
This covers any internet platform owned by international organizations that appear on the official list of undesirable organizations. That means their websites, social media pages, news portals – anything connected to these organizations
Organizations banned for extremism or terrorism
This includes websites and accounts belonging to organizations (including public or religious associations) that courts have banned under “On Countering Extremist Activity” or “On Countering Terrorism.”
Blocked resources
These are platforms where access has been officially restricted in Russia. The reasons vary – everything from personal data law violations to extremist or illegal content. You’ll find sites from Roskomnadzor’s registry here (think pirate sites or those with prohibited information), along with websites of media outlets labeled as foreign agents with restricted access.
What counts as a platform
The definition is broad: any website, social media page, app, or account on any platform. This means social networks, messengers, news sites, blogs, and basically any online space – as long as it belongs to an undesirable, banned, or blocked organization.
Checking whether you can advertise somewhere
You can verify a platform’s status by searching these official registries:
Here’s how it works: if the platform and its owner don’t appear in any of these lists, and access isn’t restricted, you’re good to advertise there. But if it shows up in even one registry, advertising is off-limits – and you risk administrative penalties if you do it anyway.
What to do about ads you’ve already placed
You need to remove all advertising from banned resources before September 1, 2025. After that date, you can be fined for keeping it up. Vladimir Logunov, deputy head of Roskomnadzor, confirmed this at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
If you placed ads before September 1
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) clarified something important: ads you placed before September 1, 2025, don’t have to come down – but only if you haven’t touched them since. So if there’s a promotion or discount in the ad that’s still running in its original form, you’re fine.
There’s an important nuance. If you publish new content on that page after September 1, FAS might argue that you clearly have technical control over the old ad – which means you could’ve removed it or stopped it from running.
They also consider it an “update” when you:
Pin the ad
Repost it
Recommend it
Mention it anywhere else
Place it again (even on different platforms)
Doing any of these things after September 1 could be seen as actively distributing advertising on a banned resource. You can find more details in the FAS letter.
Our advice: take a close look at all your advertising placements and make sure everything complies with these new rules and with how regulators are interpreting them. It’s better to err on the side of caution than to deal with fines down the road.