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   Russia demands 212 VPNs are removed from the Play Store  but Google is   
   resisting   
      
   Date:   
   Tue, 08 Apr 2025 13:35:29 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Unlike Apple, Google appears to have resisted most Russian VPN blocking   
   requests so far, new research reveals. Here's what's at stake.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   Russia's censor body Roskomnadzor issued 212 VPN blocking orders against   
   Google between March and April 2025. Among these, however, only 6 apps   
   appeared to have been removed so far, bringing the total of unavailable VPN   
   services on Russia's Google Play Store to 53.    
      
   Russian investigative journalist Maria Kolomychenko first discovered that   
   Google received at least 47 VPN removal orders of some of the best VPN apps   
   starting on March 12. After this revelation, researchers at GreatFires   
   AppCensorship Project began to analyze the availability of 399 VPN apps,   
   unveiling that Roskomnadzor actually targeted 212 VPN-like tools .    
      
   GreatFire's findings show an escalation in the Kremlin's war on VPNs. Unlike   
   Apple, however, which killed at least 60 VPN apps upon Roskomnadzor's request   
   in 2024 alone, Google appears to have resisted most Russian VPN blocking   
   requests so far.   
      
   214 removal requests targeting 212 VPNs    
      
   Roskomnadzor's fight against VPN apps is certainly nothing new. Yet, as   
   GreatFires Campaign and Advocacy Director, Benjamin Ismail, puts it: "The   
   Russian government is waging an all-out war on VPNs and all other tools   
   enabling Russian citizens to bypass censorship and surveillance."    
      
   Specifically, GreatFire recorded a total of 214 removal orders issued against   
   Google between March 12 and April 1, 2025. Among these, 212 targeted virtual   
   private network (VPN) and similar apps like VPN client and proxy tools.    
      
   Several of these requests were issued under a law enforced in March last    
   year, which criminalizes the spread of information about ways to circumvent   
   internet restrictions  VPNs included. Nonetheless, using a VPN isn't a crime   
   in Russia.    
      
   As mentioned earlier, Google appears to have largely resisted Russia's   
   censorship demands so far. GreatFire found, in fact, that only 6 of the VPNs   
   targeted by the last wave of Roskomnadzor requests are currently unavailable   
   in the Play Store. These include the popular service ExpressVPN .    
      
   A total of 53 VPN services were found to be unavailable on Russia's Google   
   Play Store. These include the likes of NordVPN , CyberGhost , Private    
   Internet Access (PIA) , and Astrill VPN .    
      
   Popular apps like Proton VPN , Mullvad , and Amnezia VPN remain accessible    
   via the Google Play stores in the country at the time of writing. As of   
   September 16, 2024,GreatFire found a total of 98 VPN apps were unavailable   
   from the Russia's App Store, showing Apple's higher compliance rate with   
   removal requests.   
      
   Interestingly, though, researchers found some inconsistencies with   
   Roskomnadzors own takedown requests, which in several cases targeted VPN apps   
   that had already been removed.    
      
   ExpressVPN is an example of that, as it appears to have been unavailable on   
   Russia's Google Play at least since sometime between March and September    
   2024.    
      
   Another challenge is to determine when an app got removed as well as the    
   exact reason behind its unavailability. For instance, Avast VPN confirmed in    
   a blog post the company's decision to cease its operation in Russia following   
   the Ukraine war. More developers may have also been pressured by the   
   government to leave the country's app stores.    
      
   Yet, according to Ismail, this doesn't mean censorship is absent.    
      
   He told TechRadar: "Self-censorship is still censorship: its just a more   
   indirect, systemic form, rather than a formal takedown. And if, in the end,    
   it was the developers sole decision to take down the app as part of a broader   
   withdrawal from the Russian market, we regret such a choice."    
      
   AppCensorship is now calling for greater independent oversight and   
   transparency from tech platforms.    
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/russia-demands-212-vpns-are   
   -removed-from-the-play-store-but-google-is-resisting   
      
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