Roskomnadzor Blocks Access to Eight Foreign Hosting Providers
In March and April 2024, Roskomnadzor (RKN), the Russian federal communications regulator, restricted access to the websites of eight foreign hosting providers for failing to comply with the so-called “landing” law. According to media reports, these companies were required to open offices in Russia and register personal accounts on the Roskomnadzor website.
Legal Requirements for Foreign Hosting Providers
Under Federal Law No. 236-FZ “On the Activities of Foreign Entities on the Internet in the Russian Federation,” foreign hosting providers whose users include those located in Russia must:
- Register a personal account on the Roskomnadzor website;
- Provide a feedback form for Russian citizens and organizations;
- Establish an authorized representative office in Russia.
According to the official RKN website dedicated to Federal Law No. 236, eight providers have been subjected to enforcement measures in the form of “complete restriction of access to the information resource of the foreign entity.”
List of Blocked Hosting Providers
Access was restricted to the following websites:
- Kamatera Inc. (access restricted on March 25)
- WPEngine Inc. (access restricted on March 27)
- HostGator.com LLC (access restricted on March 29)
- Network Solutions LLC (access restricted on April 1)
- DreamHost LLC (access restricted on April 3)
- Bluehost Inc. (access restricted on April 5)
- Ionos Inc. (access restricted on April 8)
- DigitalOcean LLC (access restricted on April 10)
“Access to a number of hosting providers has been restricted due to repeated failure to fulfill obligations stipulated by Article 5 of the Law,” Roskomnadzor representatives clarified.
Other Hosting Providers Not Affected
Restrictions did not affect four other hosting providers previously included in the “landing” list: Amazon Web Services Inc., GoDaddy.com LLC, Hetzner Online GmbH, and FastComet.
Background and Additional Measures
In total, 12 foreign hosting providers were included in the “landing” list. Back in the fall of 2023, the agency took measures by requiring search engines to inform internet users about these companies’ violations of Russian law. Search engines were required to label these companies as violators in search results.
When these measures proved ineffective, search engines were prohibited from displaying information about the websites of the listed companies. For example, searching for “DigitalOcean” on Yandex now displays a warning at the top of the page: “Some links are missing from the search results due to applicable legal requirements.”
In mid-January 2024, the Tagansky District Court imposed turnover fines totaling over 195 million rubles on several major hosting companies. All fines were related to failure to comply with obligations for organizing the activities of a foreign legal entity on the internet in Russia, including failure to register a personal account on the Roskomnadzor website, provide a feedback form for Russian citizens and organizations, and establish a Russian representative office.