Russia-Ukraine war: Restrictions on food, social-media apps change lives of ordinary people

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, many western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia. Some international companies have been forced to withdraw services amidst the chaos. Whether it is Russia’s rocket attack on the International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security or its attack on a maternity hospital, the locals of both the countries are suffering a lot.

Under such circumstances, many Russians are using social media to voice decent against the brutality of war. But since many social media platforms have restricted services, Russians are bound to feel disconnected with the rest of the world and their loved ones too.

Expressing her loneliness in a BBC report, a resident of Russia – Natasha said, “This is a completely new kind of crisis which makes us all feel lost and bewildered. Not just in business but in our own lives. The loss of income, having to give up a whole way of life, reduced connections, including on social media, and not being able to travel to see family and friends who live abroad. There are a lot of things we have already lost and haven't yet fully understood”.

About 80 million people in Russia lost interaction with Instagram users outside their country as the country banned the app on March 14. As per Russia’s media regulator, Instagram access has been restricted as it includes "calls to commit violent acts”.

Facebook and Instagram’s parent firm Meta had earlier said that it is changing its hate speech policy to allow users in some countries to call for violence against Russian soldiers. However, the firm still didn’t allow calls for violence against Russian civilians.

Speaking about the move, Meta’s President Nick Clegg said that they have modified content policies as they don’t want to restrict ordinary Ukrainians from expressing their resistance and fury at the Russian attackers.

Notably, Russia has already initiated limited access to Twitter as President Vladimir Putin continues crackdown on social media platforms and news outlets like the BBC.

As many Russians were facing increased difficulties following the country’s Twitter ban, the tech giant launched Tor onion service that allows Russian users to bypass the government’s internet blocks.

Nevertheless, many Russians who are not so tech savy continue to feel left out.

Another social media platform that has restricted services in Russia is TikTok. The social networking service is not letting Russian people to upload new content due to government-imposed restrictions.

Since Netflix has also suspended video streaming services and halted production of all projects in Russia. This further restricts people from finding little relaxation amidst the chaos.

How are ordinary people coping with increased sanctions?

The increased government sanctions and social media applications withdrawal is impacting ordinary lives like never before. To cope up with the restricted access, people in Russia are turning to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). These networks help people to overcome online blocks so that people can access the sources of information that are otherwise restricted in respective regions.

As per the website Appfigures, between February 24 and March 5, downloads for the top 10 VPNs in Russia hiked by 4,375 per cent.