We have just published an article in the IP Address Guide dealing with the situation in Russia and whether the people of Russia are allowed to use VPN services to access blocked websites and regulated social media services such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The answer to the question is yes, but there are, of course, limitations. What do I mean?
Let us say that someone has said that Vladimir Putin isn't allowed to buy a piece of bread in the local store. That is the rule. Now, Putin might be allowed to put on make-up and a mask, but even though he looks like Madonna, he is not really allowed to buy bread now either (after all, he is still Putin). Now, that is the thing about VPN services in Russia.
You are allowed to use them, but that doesn't change the fact that you are not allowed to access the blocked websites or services, even though you potentially can access them using a VPN. Do you understand the difference here?
But, being undercover (like Putin looking like Madonna), you will be able to buy the bread or use the sites, and you will not get caught doing so. In other words, if you decide to use a VPN in Russia in 2022, you will be able to access all the blocked content and get access to news telling you more about what is really going on in Russia, and maybe more important, in Ukraine.
But, politics is hard, and it makes it all the more interesting when you look at other situations worldwide in which social media sites have been blocked before. For example, in January 2022, there were big riots in Kazakhstan caused by a gas price cap that was removed, causing the gas prices to increase (a lot). Of course, if people have money to pay for the gas, that would be okay. But, even though Kazakhstan has turned into a wealthy nation because of their gas and their uranium, the wealth has only remained with the wealthy, meaning that the different between the extremely rich and the rest is gigantic. As a result, the average citizen became outraged as the gas price cap was removed in January 2022 (and just think about what has happened to the gas prices since then).
In the midst of these riots in which an order was once made about shoot to kill anyone protesting on the street, social media services were blocked as well. And by the way, do you know which country supported Kazakhstan in the midst of this? Russia!
There are so many examples of governments trying to limit the usage of social media, and whenever such things happen, it normally means that there is a government in the background fearing that the truth will come out.