Russia can't fully block banned websites and apps

It turns out bypassing censorship in Russia is easier than enforcing it

Yet this demonstrates that total internet censorship is theoretically possible in Russia. However, technically achieving this is impossible — restricting access to online information cannot be done completely. Even China's Great Firewall, the "Golden Shield," never managed to accomplish this in the Middle Kingdom.

Today, internet censorship exists in almost every country, according to Freedom House's 2017 Internet Freedom Index. Russia ranks 54th out of 65 countries on the list. The RF only trails nations in Asia and Africa — even Sudan invests less effort in blocking online information. It's important to note that Freedom House doesn't simply count blocked websites; it also measures opposition media censorship and prosecution for social media posts. Since 2010, Russia's internet "unfreedom" rating has only increased.

Looking at the US and developed European countries, they also appear on this list — certainly ranked higher than Russia — but they maintain internet censorship too. There, for example, child pornography is banned, along with torrents and other resources frequently hosting protected copyrighted content. When the US promoted SOPA and PIPA bills in 2012, it sparked massive backlash; even Wikipedia opposed them. The legislation aimed to strengthen copyright protection online, but users recognized it would introduce real state censorship. Yet these cases show that illegal content is restricted, meaning censorship exists regardless.

In 2018, China and North Korea remain the leaders in state internet censorship. China operates the "Golden Shield" — as it's known online, the Great Firewall. Content undergoes mandatory keyword-based moderation according to state security guidelines. Blacklisted websites don't display for users, and this extends far beyond extremist or pornographic sites — YouTube is inaccessible, many Wikipedia articles are blocked, and search engines filter results extensively.

The Russian Federation has no such "Great Russian Firewall." Instead, it blocks resources the old-fashioned way, through internet service providers. They maintain their own blacklist of IP addresses for banned sites, updated regularly based on Roskomnadzor data.

Russian ISPs must also install specialized "Revisor" equipment, which Roskomnadzor uses to verify whether resource blocking remains active.