Get the latest tech news

Russia Tests Cutting Off Access to Global Web, and VPNs Can't Get Around It

Russia reportedly blocks some areas of its country from the global web for a day as it continues to develop its own 'sovereign internet.'

Russia's communications authority, Roskomnadzor, blocked residents in Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia, which have majority-Muslim populations, ISW says. People in those areas couldn't access Google, YouTube, Telegram, WhatsApp, or other foreign websites or apps—even if they used VPNs, according to a local Russian news site. The country may also force Russian residents and companies to stop using such services and migrate over to Russian-owned ones so the government can enforce its own rules.

Get the Android app