Russian websites face massive fines for letting users log in via Google or Apple

The legislative machinery of the State Duma has officially approved new administrative fines for any local platform failing to scrub Western authorization methods from their code. This completes a legal crusade led by digital policy hawk Anton Gorelkin, who has been aggressively pushing to isolate the domestic internet from foreign influence.

Under the newly minted laws, websites are strictly forbidden from offering quick registration through foreign email services or convenient single-sign-on buttons from global tech giants. Instead, they must force users to log in using a domestic phone number, the government's own Gosuslugi portal, the state biometric database, or a certified Russian email provider like VK or Yandex.

For small-time site owners, ignoring these rules will cost up to 20,000 rubles, while corporate entities face pain levels of up to 700,000 rubles for a single slip-up. The state has essentially turned the simple "Log in with Google" button into a luxury financial liability.

To make things even sweeter for the state budget, the law also targets recommendation algorithms, threatening companies with fines up to 1.4 million rubles if they secretly track user preferences without proper bureaucratic disclosures. At the same time, telecom operators who fail to cooperate with the FSB during investigations or accidentally leak police surveillance methods face colossal penalties starting at 10 million rubles or up to 3% of their annual revenue.

Keeping the digital population in a sterile, state-monitored bubble apparently requires a lot of financial beatings. The dream of a fully sovereign, isolated internet is finally achieving its ultimate form: a place where logging into a cooking forum requires the same level of security clearance as entering a nuclear bunker.