Russia cracks down on VPNs as internet censorship tightens

Russia has further cracked down on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in a new censorship drive, aiming to restrict people’s access to the internet and major social media platforms.

According to Russia’s digital minister, the recent targeting of VPNs is meant to reduce VPN usage and restrict access to a ​number of unidentified foreign platforms as VPNs are used by people to bypass internet control and censorship.

In recent months, Russia is waging a “great crackdown” defined by blocked mobile internet and jammed major messenger services in Moscow and other cities. The country also gave immense powers to restrict mass communications.

After blocking WhatsApp and Telegram, Russia has introduced a controversial social media app named “Max” for Russians. Unlike other apps, Max is without any encryption, making it less safe and demonstrating the lack of privacy and growing concerns of digital surveillance.

"Any data that passes through this application can be considered to be in the hands of its owner, and in this case, the hands of the Russian state," cybersecurity researcher Baptiste Robert, CEO of the French company Predicta Lab, told AFP.

According to Russian authorities, foreign platforms have persistently been found to flout the law. By mid-January, Russia had blocked more than 400 VPNs, showing an uptick of 70 percent than last year as reported by Reuters.