This fall, mobile Internet has finally begun to return to Russia’s regions after months of regular shutdowns, allegedly imposed to counter the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes. But what’s coming back isn’t full access to the web — it’s a “whitelist” of Kremlin-approved sites accessible even when the rest of the mobile Internet is cut off.
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Russians share their experiences with the new system. Below are some of the most notable responses, translated into English.
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It’s like having a flashlight instead of a candle when the power goes out. But the idea that someone might decide everyone’s satisfied and that no one really needs the other sites is depressing.
Yandex and VKontakte open, but the rest don’t — including [the Russian government’s public services portal] Gosuslugi and banking. I’m completely dissatisfied. To access other sites, I have to rely on public Wi-Fi around the city: smart bus stops, shopping malls, and so on.
I call taxis from home and download podcasts in advance. Everyone in my neighborhood ends up standing around in supermarkets for the free Wi-Fi.
Of course I’m not happy about the whitelist! Honestly, it’s complete crap (sorry, but I’m furious). Reliable sources of information, video games, Wikipedia, ChatGPT, cloud services, Twitch — basically everything I use — stopped working. I try not to use those crappy Russian services.
For basic needs, it’s enough, but the sense of control and pressure never goes away. It feels like surveillance.
To reach sites outside the whitelist, you have to wander around the grounds with your phone held up to the sky, hoping to catch the neighboring tower, where the whitelist gets disabled once the drone-threat alert is lifted. It feels like being a kid again, when you had to stand on a stool by the window to catch a signal. A strange sort of nostalgia.
There is a real need for the rest of the Internet! Banking apps don’t work, by the way — not even Yandex Pay. As for other sites, there’s no way to access them.