You open the App Store in Russia. You search for a VPN. And the apps you relied on may not be there anymore.
“Developers of virtual private network (VPN) apps are reporting that their products are again being pulled from Apple’s App Store in Russia,” the EFF wrote in a post published 30 October 2026.
AGAIN. Not the first time.
The EFF did not mince words. It called this “an unacceptable crackdown on a vital tool to protect privacy and speech online.”
Why does a VPN matter? The EFF explains that a website you visit through a VPN only sees the VPN server’s address, not your real location. In the EFF’s words: “It’s like sending a letter through a P.O. box so the recipient doesn’t know where you really live.”
And the EFF says what this kind of crackdown is: “Going after tools that give people the space to communicate and access information freely is a common tactic from the totalitarian playbook.”
The Squeeze, Step By Step
This did not come out of nowhere. The EFF lays out the path.
In 2024, the EFF wrote, the Moscow Times reported that Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state media watchdog, went after VPN apps on the Apple App Store. That came after Russia banned access to Western social media platforms and blacklisted opposition media sites.
Then, according to Apple Insider as cited by the EFF, Russia blocked Apple’s FaceTime software in 2025.
Now the EFF points to a Bloomberg report that the Russian government has added Apple and Microsoft to its state surveillance registry. Citing Apple Insider, the EFF wrote that this gives Roskomnadzor access to local users’ correspondence and puts both companies in a position to turn over customer information to the country’s security services “as required.”
Block the escape routes. Then put the companies on the list. The surveillance state does not stop at one step.
The result, per the EFF: “people in Russia are left with shrinking options to communicate online or find information that isn’t state-sanctioned.”
Shrinking options. How long before there are none?
Not Just Moscow
Think this is only a Russian problem? The EFF says Russia is “far from the only government doing so.”
According to the EFF, several U.S. states have suggested banning VPNs, either to access certain content or in some cases outright, in a push to make it difficult to get around age-gating laws. The EFF warns that “going after VPNs is a dangerous step down the road of censorship.”
The EFF’s Surveillance Self-Defense guide on network censorship spells out the link: “Internet surveillance and censorship go hand-in-hand.” It adds: “Spotting “unacceptable” activity is the same as internet surveillance.”
Read that twice. To block what you do, they first have to WATCH what you do.
What those in power may see as a “loophole,” the EFF says, “is actually an expression of user control.”
A VPN Is No Magic Shield
Now the honest part. A different EFF Surveillance Self-Defense guide, “Choosing the VPN That’s Right for You,” warns that “VPN providers often overpromise security benefits in advertisements.”
A VPN moves the watcher, it does not remove it. That guide puts it plainly: “while a VPN hides your browsing data from the ISP, it’s all visible to the VPN provider.”
And look at how you pay for one. According to the same guide: “Most commercial VPNs require you to pay using a credit card, which includes information about you that you may not want to disclose to your VPN provider.”
You hide your connection, then hand over your card number? That looks like a payment trail, sitting right next to your traffic.
The guide even warns against trusting the store shelf: “Do not assume that just because a VPN app is available on an official storefront that it’s safe.”
Guard The Money Trail Too
Your connection is one half of your privacy. Your payments are the other half.
Monero hides the sender, the receiver and the amount of each payment by default. A self-custody wallet keeps your keys on your own device, not with an exchange.
Monero One is a free, open-source, self-custody Monero wallet for iPhone and Android. Your keys stay on your device. The app sends us no analytics. Full disclosure: the host built Monero One. He’s biased. He’s also right.
Thinking about the network side of your wallet as well? Read up on remote node privacy.
Follow @MoneroOne on X and join the Resistance on Telegram (t.me/monero_one).
SOURCES
- EFF: Why VPNs Are Worth Defending
- EFF Surveillance Self-Defense: Choosing the VPN That’s Right for You
- EFF Surveillance Self-Defense: How to Understand and Circumvent Network Censorship
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