Russia VPN usage continues to soar

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Russia's Instagram ban led to a huge surge in VPN installs

VPN encrypting a flow of data
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

As VPN services allow users to bypass geo-blocking and get around internet restrictions, it's no surprise that VPN usage in Russia has continued to soar as a result of the country's invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

According to a new blog post from Atlas VPN, the latest wave of VPN installs in the country began on March 11 after the Russian communication agency Roskomnadzor announced that it would ban Instagram. Then just a few days later on March 14, VPN installs in Russia reached an all-time high, surging by 11,253 percent beyond their normal level.

Russia's Instagram ban was allegedly in response to Facebook's decision to temporarily allow for calls for violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers in some countries.

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VPN usage in Russia has also increased as the country's government has tightened its grip on independent media outlets and banned Russian websites from calling the invasion of Ukraine a war. Instead, they have been told to refer to the invasion as a “special military operation”. At the same time, Putin recently signed a new law that makes posting “fake news” about the invasion a punishable offense that can lead to up to 14 years in prison.

Interest in VPNs

As the invasion of Ukraine continues, Russian citizens have turned away from Yandex and have begun to use Google Search to learn more about VPNs in order to avoid online restrictions and censorship.

By using Google Trends, Atlas VPN was also able to learn more about the number of “VPN” searches conducted using Google's search engine in Russia over the last 30 days. For those unfamiliar, Google Trends provides numbers which show search interest relative to the highest point for a given region and time with a value of 100 denoting peak popularity for a term.

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While VPN was at less than 10 points throughout most of February, the search term saw a dramatic upsurge in interest beginning on February 25. However, it reached an all-time high on March 12 right before the country's ban on Instagram was set to go into effect.

Thankfully for Russian citizens, the majority of VPN services aren't blocked in the country yet and they can continue to use these tools to overcome government restrictions on free speech surrounding the invasion of Ukraine and other sensitive issues.

Anthony Spadafora
Anthony Spadafora

After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.