# Russia’s August VPN crackdown relied on data already collected by its own apps

https://mins.news/en/item/26559

- Meduza, 2026-08-19 18:55 UTC
- Tech
- Original: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/08/19/august-s-vpn-crackdown-in-russia-ran-on-data-the-country-s-own-apps-had-already-collected-on-their-users

> Russia launched one of its broadest VPN-blocking waves in early August. Representatives of four services said the campaign apparently used IP addresses, social-media links, and corporate subnet data gathered by Yandex, VK, Max, and HeadHunter and fed into the TSPU filtering system, making blocking broader and more automated while slowing data-center networks.