WhatsApp Blocked Completely, Citizens Flock to Download VPNs

The government of Vladimir Putin has taken extreme measures this year to control the internet in Russia, restricting access to popular foreign applications such as Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp and Telegram. While the government urged citizens to switch to domestic apps to strengthen digital sovereignty, the public appears reluctant to comply. Reports indicate that Russians are increasingly turning to complex technical solutions to bypass state surveillance and restrictions on foreign apps. Frustration over internet controls, combined with rising prices, higher taxes, and war fatigue, has contributed to a decline in government satisfaction ratings from 75.1% in February to 65.6% in April, according to state pollster VTsIOM. This marks the lowest approval level since Putin launched the full-scale conflict in Ukraine in 2022, with current satisfaction hovering near 67%. In response to the access restrictions, Russian citizens have shown a surge in demand for VPN services to access blocked applications. According to the daily newspaper Kommersant, 9.2 million VPN downloads were recorded on Google Play in March alone, a fourteen-fold increase compared to the same period the previous year. Internet freedom activist Sarkis Darbinyan, who has been designated a ‘foreign agent’ by Moscow, stated that such a level of adoption had never been seen before. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly argued that internet controls are necessary as Russia is engaged in an ‘existential clash’ with the West over Ukraine. However, President Putin instructed the government in April to adopt a softer approach, telling lawmakers that focusing solely on bans and restrictions would be counterproductive. Government officials did not respond to Reuters’ questions regarding the article. While many authoritarian states like Iran and China impose strict internet limits, Russians had long been accustomed to a degree of online freedom. Security services have historically sought to silence domestic critics, but authorities rarely interfered with the public’s ability to use foreign apps or access Western media before the Ukraine war. Since last year, the FSB security service has ordered telecom companies to shut down mobile internet for days in various regions, citing the risk of Ukrainian drones using it for navigation. Authorities have also blocked or slowed connections to a growing list of apps and websites, which state communications regulator Roskomnadzor claims host illegal and extremist content. WhatsApp and Telegram have accused Russia of attempting to force people onto less secure, government-mandated applications. The disruptions intensified in March with a nearly three-week outage in Moscow, which reportedly irritated senior bureaucrats who needed the internet and Telegram to gather votes for the ruling United Russia party, according to two sources close to the Kremlin and several analysts. Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior researcher at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote in April that the issue was not whether the regime could secure the desired result, but whether the electoral process would run smoothly.