EU Sanctions VK for Surveillance App Ties Amid Human Rights Violations

On July 13, 2026 the EU sanctioned VKontakte and its subsidiary Communication Platform LLC, accusing them of developing the Max messaging app that is supervised by the FSB and pre-installed on mobile devices in Russia to monitor and suppress dissent; the package includes travel bans and asset freezes and also targets other firms linked to human rights abuses and cybercrime (Citadel, VAS Experts, Norsi-Trans). VK states it does not expect operational impact from the sanctions.