New research suggests that Russia is trying to stop its citizens from viewing information about Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the internet.
Russia is blocking hundreds of small websites according to data collected by digital rights and privacy group Top10VPN and shared with Insider. There is a pet grooming site, a short horror story blog, and a tattoo parlor website.
Russia has cracked down on any messaging that supports the idea that the invasion of Ukraine is a special military operation.
The blocking of these niche sites shows how the Russian state is controlling information on the internet.
Many of the niche sites blocked by Russia contained the same piece of Russian-language text trying to inform readers about the war in Ukraine.
About 300 websites contained the same text about the war, according to Samuel Woodhams. They were blocked by Russia by searching a publicly available list of blocked websites.
The websites for pet grooming, horror story, and tattoo parlor all had the same text.
Russia has attacked Ukraine. We, Ukrainians, hope that you are aware of this. For the sake of your children and any hope of light at the end of this hell, please finish reading our letter, per an automated translation provided to Insider by Woodhams.
The text was often hidden in hard-to- find resource pages on these websites.
It goes on to show that the Russian state propaganda is not true.
Woodhams told Insider that efforts are being made to reach Russian citizens and circumvent Russia's vast censorship apparatus.
Although these obscure websites are unlikely to have a huge reach, there's strength in numbers and with so many domains affected it's likely some will have evaded Russia's censorship apparatus.
Woodhams found a blocked website that had information about the war in Ukraine.
Woodhams said that sports websites are often blocked for interviewing a footballer who speaks out about the conflict.
Russia has blocked 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 960 news domains have been blocked in Russia since the invasion began.
Chess.com was blocked by Russia on April 24 after it stated its condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine.
Even though its website was blocked, Chess.com's apps continued to function.
We encourage our Russian members to continue using our apps or any of the many outstanding VPN services that are so essential in Russia, it said.
There was a surge in Russian demand for virtual private networks. Users can use a virtual private network to access information that is otherwise blocked in their country.
Ukrainians and activists found ways to circumvent Russian internet censorship after the invasion.
Some people posted reviews of restaurants and locations that contained messages about Ukraine, which led to the blocking of Russian reviews by Google.
Insider reported in March that Ukrainian ad professionals formed a group to target Russian internet users with ads debunking misinformation.
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