The tech giants are moving back from Russia by closing their services over there on a regular basis. On the other hand, the people of Russia are inclining to the ‘Virtual Private Networks’ or VPNs to avoid government control.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Russian users have downloaded the top 10 VPN apps from Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store almost 6 million times till March 8. Compared to the 13 days before the aggression started, the downloads of the top 10 VPN apps in the two App Stores have increased by 1500 percent.
Last Friday, YouTube blocked the affiliates of Russia’s state-owned media.
Farshad Shadlu, a spokesman for the platform, said that Russian media had been blocked under YouTube’s policy on publicizing violence.
However, Russia is saying the opposite. Russia has called the recent ban on the App Store and social media platforms as “unjustified censorship.”
Russia’s Sputnik news agency said “the decision to block YouTube is nothing more than a new twist in a brutal attack on one of the principles of a democratic society – freedom of the press.”
