Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead
Gizmodo • • world
Key Points:
- Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder and CEO, stated that Russia’s attempts to block VPNs triggered a significant banking failure, causing cash to become the primary payment method nationwide for a brief period.
- Russia has recently intensified government control over the internet, frequently disrupting online services as part of efforts to suppress unwanted content, including a campaign to reduce VPN usage announced by Digital Minister Maksut Shadayev.
- The government’s crackdown includes promoting Max, a centralized Russian app lacking privacy protections, while restricting popular apps like WhatsApp and Telegram to push users toward state-controlled platforms.
- VPN disruptions on Friday reportedly caused banking app outages due to overloads in filtering systems managed by Russia’s communications watchdog, raising concerns about network stability.
- Despite these efforts, Durov claims that VPNs enable around 50 million Russians to continue using Telegram daily, highlighting the limited success of the government’s crackdown on the platform.
