Apple continues to kill VPN apps on Russia’s orders – Amnezia VPN is the latest victim
The best VPN apps continue to disappear from the Apple App Store in Russia at the request of the government.
Earlier today, October 31, 2024, it was time for Amenzia VPN, a popular free VPN service developed by Russian digital rights group Roskomsvoboda.
The provider shared the bad news on its website Telegram channel in the early hours of the day. The team also confirmed to Ny Breaking that tests were conducted by the AppleCensorship Project was able to show how the app became unavailable for just four hours – or even less than that – after developers received notifications from Apple about the Russian censorship order (see image below).
“This is further confirmation of how fast Apple is in meeting censorship demands,” an Amnezia VPN spokesperson told me. “For companies whose apps have been removed, there is no time or opportunity to question the requests of Russian authorities.”
The Big Tech giant has removed more than 60 VPN apps since July this year. In total, almost 100 services are currently not available for download in the official App Store in Russia.
As mentioned earlier, experts from Roskomsvoboda developed Amnezia VPN precisely to give people living under strict internet censorship a means to access the open web. In fact, the team claims that Amenzia VPN is one of the most stable and effective VPNs working in Russia, Iran and other countries where VPN protocols are monitored and blocked by authorities.
In September 2024, a large coalition of human rights organizations, media, and VPN providers wrote an open letter calling on Apple to “immediately restore” VPN apps to the Russian App Store. According to experts, that letter remains unanswered.
“Apple continues to ignore civil society demands to do the right thing and uphold human rights in Russia by restoring VPNs they blocked at the request of Roskomnadzor, the country’s censorship agency,” said Anastasiya Zhyrmont, Eastern Europe Policy Manager and Central Asia at Access Now we describe the removal of Amenzia VPN as ‘a huge blow to fundamental freedoms’.
How to download a Russia VPN
Whether you live in Russia or are visiting soon, you definitely need a VPN to maintain access to the open internet. Both Freedom House And Reporters Without Borders (RSF) classify Russia as one of the worst countries for internet freedom due to its high level of online censorship.
A VPN, short for Virtual Private Network, spoofs your real IP address location to help you bypass geo-restrictions on online content, while encrypting all your Internet connections to increase your privacy while browsing.
If you’re having trouble downloading a Russian VPN app, below are some quick tips shared with us by Zhyrmont from Access Now:
- Download as many VPN apps that are still available as possible. This allows you to jump from one to the other in case some services stop working. I suggest you check out our free VPN guide to get the most secure services available without paying for them all.
- Download independent media apps with built-in circumvention technologies. While many websites for independent publications in Russia are restricted, newsrooms have developed censorship-resistant applications so readers can access their content without having to download a VPN. The Meduza app is worth checking out.
- Try changing your Apple ID from ru-zone. However, this can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you have active subscriptions in the Apple App Store.
Overall, experts believe that Apple should be a vendor to avoid in the first place for people in Russia who want to continue enjoying their digital freedoms.
Commenting on this point, Stanislav Shakirov, CTO at Roskomsvoboda, said: “(Apple) is the only one helping Russian censorship. If this policy is not changed, over time Apple’s equipment will be useless for accessing the free internet from Russia, because there will be nothing left in the Russian AppStore that has not been blocked by the authorities.”