For the past year, Instagram, Facebook and exiled independent media have been banned from Russia, and they are now only accessible via VPNs. Since the beginning of 2023, the fight against these tools which make it possible to cross the iron curtain of information has intensified. As soon as a VPN becomes widespread, it is rendered unusable. And for a month a campaign to demonstrate to the Russians that these tools would be dangerous has been launched.
With our correspondent in Moscow, Anissa El Jabri
These are small videos that began to appear on social networks stamped 100% Russian as VKontakte, the alternative to Facebook. They show scenes from everyday life: at the restaurant for example, or at the supermarket. In one of them, a customer comes to the checkout with her purchases and talks to the cashier, just before paying.
” Want energy drinks? asks the cashier. ” Yes, two. Should I show you my passport? “replies the client. ” No need, I know everything. Your name is Maria Alexandrovna Stepanova. Born February 2, 2002 in Moscow, you live at 2 Lenin Boulevard, apartment number 89 continues the cashier, to the great astonishment of the customer.
At the supermarket or restaurant, each of his demonstrative videos ends with a message: “ Has your personal data become public? It’s that your VPN does not guarantee your security “, or ” There is a price to pay for the security of your data. Sometimes too high. Ask yourself the question when watching content on banned social networks “, or ” Be careful not to install free VPNs, they can collect data about you and sell it to third parties “.
Officially, this campaign does not come from the state but from an organization that ” brings together active internet users in Russia “. As indicated on its official website, it is a company that also benefits from the ” financial support from the Ministry of Digital Development “.