Russians are increasingly flocking to virtual private networks (VPN) to sidestep the internet restrictions placed by their government. Since the invasion of Ukraine nearly two weeks back, the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government have found it difficult to control the flow of information.
While Russia largely controls the flow of news via its tight grip on media through state-owned channels, there has been a rise of independent media and proliferation of tech platforms like TikTok and Facebook. Putin and his aides failed to measure the impact of these tech platforms ahead of the invasion.
Russians embrace VPN to sidestep internet restrictions
In a desperate measure, Russia first decided to throttle Facebook and Twitter. After Facebook and Twitter restricted state-owned RT and Sputnik from their platforms and made it impossible for Russian companies to post ads, Russia blocked Facebook and imposed further restrictions on international media.
Roskomnadzor, the Russian media regulator, introduced a new censorship bill, which Putin signed into law last week. The law made it impossible for news organisations to accurately report the news in or from Russia. The law, which interpreted the definition of “fake news” on its own terms, forced major news organisations such as BBC and CNN to stop broadcasting from the country.
Now, the internet savvy Russians are finding a way around Russia’s blockade and will even make them aware of the reality of the Ukraine war. The state-owned Russian media has been portraying the Russian invasion as an occupation and an attempt to throw out the ruling government and save its people. The reality is something that Russia does not want its citizens to know.
With access to VPN, Russians will be able to stay connected to the rest of the world and get access to the same information that their peers get elsewhere. According to Top10VPN.com, the demand for VPN surged 1,092 per cent in Russia on March 5, the day after its regulator blocked access to Facebook.
It has surged to 1,033 per cent higher than the daily average over the week prior to the invasion. The TopVPN report shows that Russian interest in VPN has once again started to climb, with demand at 956 percent higher on March 9 than it was pre-invasion.
Apptopia, a data intelligence platform looking at app downloads, says the downloads of eight popular VPN apps in Russia grew from 12,848 on February 15 to 415,547 on March 7. In Russia, Surfshark has confirmed an increase of 3,005 per cent in average weekly sales since February 24.
ExpressVPN, a popular VPN service provider, said last week that traffic to its website increased by about 330 per cent week over week from Russia. Proton has also seen a 1,000 per cent increase in sign ups for its VPN service in Russia this month.
Ukraine is also seeing increased VPN use
It is not just Russia where VPNs have seen a spike in interest. Ukraine, which has a democratically elected government and open internet, is also seeing an increase in VPN use. VPNs allow users to hide their locations and help evade location-based restrictions. They also help with encrypting internet traffic and browsing more privately. A cloud VPN like NordVPN helps secure logins, data, and networks.
In Ukraine, the demand for VPN climbed 609 per cent higher than before the invasion, according to Top10VPN.com. The data also shows that the average daily VPN demand in Ukraine has softened since the invasion and now averages at 389 per cent above the baseline. ExpressVPN says it has seen traffic from Ukraine increase by about 130 per cent.
“For citizens in Ukraine and Russia, it’s the only thing providing a semblance of online privacy and freedom,” Andy Yen, Proton founder and CEO, told Axios.
VPN use is legal in Russia
The trend seen in Russia and Ukraine is similar to the one seen in other countries, including Myanmar, Nigeria and Kazakhstan. In Russia, the use of VPN is legal, but the country does not permit accessing official blocked content. The Russian authorities, according to Simon Migliano, head of research at Top10VPN.com, have blocked about 15 VPN services in the country.
“Whenever authoritarian regimes seek to control their citizens and suppress their access to information and their ability to communicate with one another, there will always be push-back,” Migliano told Axios.
Migliano says Russia is already trying to block VPN traffic at the network level. The country is only expected to intensify this network level blockage as the war intensifies and Russia continues to thwart the flow of accurate information.
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