Top App downloads in Russia
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Russia has been suffering severe sanctions from other governments since it invaded Ukraine last week. Unfortunately, the situation for those living under Russian territory is about to get worse, as the local government has been censoring the internet. As a result, VPN apps are now among the most downloaded apps in the Russian App Store.
As reported by analyst firm AppFigures, the number of VPN app downloads in Russia has grown considerably since the conflict began on February 24. As of Tuesday, the most popular VPN apps have seen an increase of over 1,200% in the number of downloads in both the App Store and Google Play in Russia.
On March 1 alone, VPN apps registered almost half a million downloads in Russia compared to an average of 10,000 downloads per day last month. The numbers are a result of local communications regulator Roskomnadzor blocking access to multiple social networks and news websites on Russian internet providers.
With VPN apps, users can bypass some of these blocks while also surfing the web anonymously – which is important when dealing with a government that is constantly controlling what people can and cannot access.
