VPNs Struggle as Russia Advances Internet Censorship in Key Regions

According to reports from Russian and European news outlets, Russia has restricted web services in some regions of the country for a day because they are trying to develop their own sovereign internet. Institute of the Study of War (ISW) reported that Roskomnadzor, Russian communication authority, blocked the internet access of regions like Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia and residents in those areas couldn't access apps like Telegram, YouTube, Google, WhatsApp and some other apps and websites even with VPN. These regions have muslim majority and are located southwest of Russia and share borders with Azerbaijan and Georgia.

A digital rights NGO in Russia called Roskomsvoboda said that some VPNs were working in internet restricted regions but most of them were not. It was unclear which VPNs worked and which didn't but there are reports that at least 197 VPNs are blocked in Russia currently. As Russia is making efforts for censorship, Apple stepped up to help the country by taking down VPN apps from their Russian Apple App Store. Russia plans to make its own sovereign internet so it can have full control over it. $648 million have been invested for projects related to internet and power restrictions in Russia.

Russia seemed to be testing slowing down websites and internet speeds in the country which made most apps like YouTube almost unusable. ISW also said that Russia is also planning to block services like HostGator, Amazon Web Services and other web hosts in the future. The Russian government is already telling the residents to switch to Russian apps and stop using other foreign services. There are also many companies who have stopped providing services in Russia like GoDaddy that stopped supporting Russian domains after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Notion and Wix also stopped their sites in Russia because of US sanctions.

Another country with internet censorship is China that has its own Great Firewall. China has also censored some words or letters that it deemed unsuitable or unacceptable for the internet and there are a lot of foreign apps that have been restricted in the country. People are moving to VPNs but governments can also restrict them. Countries like Myanmar, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and Vietnam are also known to be countries with no internet freedom, and VPNs are not the permanent solution to access the internet. It is still unclear how far Russia is going for internet restriction and censorship and there is no news about its latest internet policies.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World