The Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked thousands of websites that use the privacy protection function of the American company Cloudflare. The blocking occurred due to the use of Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) technology, which makes it difficult to monitor user activity.
Roskomnadzor urged website owners in Russia to abandon Cloudflare services and switch to internal content delivery services (CDN). According to the regulator, ECH allows bypassing bans on access to information that is blocked in Russia, violating Russian laws.
This measure was part of the Russian government’s efforts to limit access to independent sources of information. Earlier this year, Roskomnadzor called on Apple to remove VPN applications from the Russian App Store because they allowed censorship to be circumvented. Most Western social networks, news media and local opposition publications are already blocked for Russian users.
Experts in Russia estimate that Cloudflare has about 44% of the CDN market, and replacing these services with domestic alternatives will be expensive and time-consuming. Despite the pressure, Cloudflare continues to work in Russia, citing the need to provide Russians with access to world news. However, the company stopped providing services to sanctions-related clients, including Russian financial institutions.
Blocking sites in Russia is part of a broader policy of isolating the Internet and restricting freedom of speech. Attempts to replace Western technologies with domestic solutions correspond to Russia’s efforts to build a controlled information environment for citizens, but the transition to national solutions is difficult with high costs and a lack of suitable alternatives.
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