Russians turn to VPNs, multiple phones as internet controls deepen

For a Moscow interior designer named Irina, a normal day now involves three devices, two messaging apps, and a constant cycle of switching her VPN on and off depending on what she needs to do online.

With the tightening of restrictions on the internet imposed by the Kremlin this year, Russians have started resorting to ever more sophisticated ways of using blocked foreign applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

According to BBC, ver just the month of March, there have been 9.2 million downloads on Google Play of the top five VPNs 14 times more than in March of last year, according to Moscow-based consultancy firm Digital Budget, reported in Kommersant. 

The number of people in Russia admitting to using a VPN has increased from 23% to 36% since 2022, according to the pollsters at Levada Center.

These problems seem to come amid a growing political price, especially with increasing costs and tiredness from war. Polling organisation VTsIOM, in its reports, showed that Putin’s popularity fell from 75.1% in February to 65.6% in April. 

This was the lowest rate since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 when the percentage went up to around 67%. It is interesting because there is a parliamentary election in September.

The state authorities urge people to use the Russian version, called MAX, introduced last year with more than 85 million daily users. However, it worries some that the app might be used for surveillance purposes, a statement the developer, VK, denies. 

People using MAX, even those working at state institutions, prefer to keep the app apart on their separate devices and sometimes even take microphones and cameras out.

Putin has since told the government that relying solely on bans is "counterproductive", and a planned surcharge for VPN users on mobile data was quietly postponed in May.