“Government services” urged users to change their Gmail email to any other

“Google recently limited the use of SMS verification to create new accounts. We cannot guarantee that this feature will continue to work for existing accounts. Protect your account: Replace your @gmail.com email with any other. Please indicate the new address in your personal account settings,” says the message received by the RB.RU correspondent.

Gmail mailbox owners were also encouraged to use VK’s Xmail service. According to the company’s website, it allows you to “save your Gmail name and transfer emails with a couple of clicks.”

In early September, media reported that Google had limited the ability of Russians to register new accounts using Russian phone numbers. This information was later confirmed by the Ministry of Digital Development.

Representatives of the American company said on September 27 that they are aware of the problems that Russian users have when registering new accounts and are working to solve them. Google added that it intends to maintain access to free services for Russians.

In December 2023, a law came into force that changed the authorization rules on Russian websites. Now this is only possible through a local telephone number, through the “State Services”, the Unified Biometric System or another that is totally or 50% controlled by the national authorities. However, there is still no liability for sites for violating the new authorization rules.