Fastmail Signups Blocked in Russia

Nicola Nye, Fastmail’s Chief of Staff:

We strive to make Fastmail’s privacy-first email service available to as many people as possible. We received an order from the Russian Government to comply with their data laws, and we challenged that order in Russian courts. Unfortunately, like many other email and internet service providers, we lost our case. As a result, new Fastmail subscriptions will no longer be available for purchase in Russia.

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Many email and digital companies worldwide have had to deal with this situation over the past few years, with similar impacts and outcomes, such as NordVPN, ProtonMail, Tutanota, Mailfence, and StartMail.

It’s hard not to see this as a “heads, I win; tails, you lose” for the Russian Government. Those who choose to pull their services out of Russia leave people there stuck with a choice of those who chose instead to aid and abet the control of Roskomnadzor.