Russian authorities have doubled down on censorship online, internet disruptions, and surveillance since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 50-page report, "Disrupted, Throttled, and Blocked: State Censorship, Control, and Increasing Isolation of Internet Users in Russia," documents the impact of the government's increasing technological capacities and control over the country's internet infrastructure. Human Rights Watch found that this allows the authorities to carry out more widespread and nontransparent blocking and throttling of unwanted websites and censorship circumvention tools, as well as internet disruptions and shutdowns under the pretext of ensuring public safety and national security.
"For years, Russian authorities have been meticulously expanding their legal and technological tools to carve out Russia's section of the internet into a tightly controlled and isolated forum," said Anastasiia Kruope, assistant Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Their efforts have led to pervasive censorship, large-scale internet disruptions, and weakened security and privacy, in violation of their human rights responsibilities under international law."
Human Rights Watch interviewed 13 Russian and international independent journalists and experts on internet censorship and digital rights, information security, internet governance, and digital policy. Researchers also analyzed laws and by-laws, and a wide scope of open sources in English and Russian such as academic research, Russian IT forums, and data gathered by Russian and international internet censorship monitoring projects.
Human Rights Watch wrote to five foreign and three Russian technology companies, as well as to the Russian government about its findings. The responses from the foreign tech company Cloudflare and Russian tech company Yandex are reflected in the report, and available as an annex to the report on Human Rights Watch's website.
Russian authorities have blocked thousands of websites, including for independent media outlets and human rights organizations, opposition politicians' web pages, and social media platforms, for failure to comply with Russia's draconian legislation regulating online activity.
Some foreign websites and platforms have stopped providing services to users from Russia due to sanctions and political pressure that followed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Accessing blocked websites and apps, like Instagram or Facebook, is largely impossible in Russia without a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a tool that allows users to circumvent censorship. Yet, according to some estimates, about half of the country's population does not know how to use such tools, and the authorities increasingly block them.
This, along with active state-sponsored promotion of Russian alternatives, forced a growing number of users to switch to Russian browsers and social media platforms on which users are offered government-promoted content and interpretations of current and historic events. They also face higher risks of having their personal data passed on to law enforcement.
Russian law requires websites that place ads to dedicate 5 percent to "social advertisements," defined as aimed at "charity or other socially valuable goals, as well as ensuring state interests."
The browser Yandex displayed a government "social advertisement" urging people to join the Russian armed forces, apparently to fight in the war against Ukraine, more than two billion times in the past two years. Yandex says it strictly prohibits political advertising.
At the same time, Russian authorities increasingly pressure foreign tech companies whose services are popular with users in Russia, such as Apple, Google, and Mozilla, under threat of fines and blocking, to take down VPNs and other content that the government considers subversive. The authorities pressure foreign hosting providers and content delivery network services, such as Cloudflare, one of the popular Content Delivery Network services in Russia, to comply with relevant legislation or face throttling and blocking. In May 2025, Cloudflare told Human Rights Watch that it is generally unable to identify or confirm government-directed blocking, and has never blocked websites at the government's request.
In December 2024, Apple, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Mozilla all responded to Human Rights Watch. Apple told Human Rights Watch that compliance with Russia's "lawful orders" was necessary "to continue making communications services available to the Russian people." AWS responded that it "complies with applicable sanctions laws in the jurisdictions where it does business and has policies and procedures to support compliance." The company also confirmed it has no offices or infrastructure in Russia and has not been allowing new Russian and Belarusian-based sign-ups for its services since March 2022. Mozilla stressed its commitment to supporting users in Russia and worldwide, advocating for an open and accessible internet for all.
The increasing online censorship is carried out via equipment called "the technological means for countering threats" (ТСПУ or TSPU). This equipment is installed in virtually all networks of the country's internet service providers under requirements laid out in the so-called sovereign internet law and its by-laws, which aim to create a separate Russian section of the internet.
The TSPU also allows the government to carry out "internet isolation" drills and regional shutdowns under the pretext of protecting public security. The authorities claim that the tests do not affect average users, but users have reported internet disruptions during those "drills," such as failed online banking transactions or disrupted access to state websites and taxi apps.
Authorities have also exerted more control over the internet in Russia by taking over its architecture. They have consolidated more than half of the Russian IP addresses in the hands of seven state-tied internet service providers and decreased the overall number of providers. The government also created a national domain name system, which works as the internet address book, and government transport layer security certificates, which verify that the website belongs to a trusted entity and that the service is encrypted.
The areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia prior to and following the full-scale invasion in February 2022 are subject to similar online censorship and internet disruptions.
Russia should end all censorship of internationally protected expression on the internet and ensure that any restriction online is lawful, necessary, and proportionate, which requires it to be limited in scope and transparent. The authorities should cease efforts to consolidate and control internet architecture that interfere with the right to seek and impart information and undermine privacy. They should end internet shutdowns and ensure transparency about government interference with the internet. They should also cease pressure on foreign and Russian tech companies to disclose user data and censor content in ways that are not compatible with international standards.
Foreign and Russian technology companies should resist state pressure to censor content and disclose user data in violation of international law using all available legal means and technological solutions. They should also ensure that they do not engage in censorship.
Western governments, international and intergovernmental organizations should support civil society efforts to create tools allowing circumvention of state censorship to promote access to independent information sources and users' privacy online.
"Russian authorities have built a comprehensive arsenal of policies and technological means to extend internet censorship and control, which are largely not visible to an average user," Kruope said. "These seemingly invisible steps have devastating implications for access to information, privacy, and freedom of expression of every internet user in Russia."
