Russia restricted access to a record number of websites last year – over 417 thousand

In 2024, Russian authorities restricted access to more than 417 thousand websites, which is a record for the entire period of observations – since 2012.

This is stated in the register maintained by the Russian public organization «Roskomsvoboda», Ukrinform reports with reference to Verstka.

“In total, about 523 thousand resources were blocked in 2024, but about 106 thousand were subsequently unblocked. Thus, more than 417 thousand pages remain inaccessible to this day,” the report says.

The publication notes that the number of pages that remain blocked has doubled compared to 2023, and almost fivefold compared to 2022. At the same time, the number of unblockings has reached its lowest level since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. If in 2022 183 thousand resources were unblocked, in 2023 – 374 thousand, then in 2024 – 106.8 thousand.

In 2024, the Federal Tax Service blocked the most resources, in second place – Roskomnadzor, in third – «Unspecified state body».

«Since November 2022, Roskomnadzor has stopped mentioning the Prosecutor General's Office among the initiators of blocking, but at that moment «Unspecified state body» appeared there. In terms of blocking, it coincides one to one with what the Prosecutor General's Office previously blocked, – said in «Roskomsvobod».

The article notes that experts are not sure why the Prosecutor General's Office tried to create anonymity, and admits that every year Roskomnadzor and the Prosecutor General's Office established more and more massive bans.

Most of the blocking by the department was carried out extrajudicially. Several state institutions have the right to extrajudicial blocking, but it is the Prosecutor General's Office and Roskomnadzor that are responsible for Internet censorship and oppression of freedom of information. They monitor LGBT content, «foreign agent» sites, military «fake» and information about bypassing blocks. And from March 2024, the RKN bans VPN sites and articles about bypassing blocks.