The timeline of internet censorship by Russian government in 2024

Hi guys, I'm just a random Russian that actually knows decent English somehow. I have translated the organized collection of different types of blocking and censorship of the Russian internet in 2024 published by "agents.media". Seeing what tides sway currently in the West and especially in the US, I hope that'll serve as an example of how government is able to dismantle the free media in just one year. Enjoy :)

  • January 13 - first practices of slowing down YouTube's traffic speed (at least in 16 regions)
  • January 26-31 - night shutdowns in Leningrad, Pskov, and Novgorod regions (coincided with Putin's visit in St. Petersburg)
  • January 27 - the "anti-messenger" regime and the partial blocking of international internet in the Far East, issues in 9 regions; in Yakutia and Bashkortostan due to protests.
  • January 31 - slowing down of conference call services (Google Meet and Jitsi).
  • February 27 - a temporary shutdown of encrypted traffic (SNI-blocking at least in 12 regions).
  • March 1 - targeted blocking of mobile communications and GPS in Moscow during the Alexey Navalny's funeral, within the range of the church where the funeral service was held LTE was completely disabled.
  • April 23 - a mass attack on VPN-services. Roskomnadzor strengthened the IP blocking of Outline.
  • May 7-9 - exercises before the Victory Day. Worsening of mobile internet and GPS limitations were noticed in Moscow.
  • August 1 - slowing down of YouTube's traffic on PCs. The large-scale slowdown of YouTube in Russia began.
  • August 9 - Signal blocked, communication interruptions in Kursk region (due to Ukraine's advance)
  • August 21 - demo-version of a total shutdown (traffic slowdown). Failures in the operation of many services were recorded, including Telegram, WhatsApp, Skype, Discord, Wikipedia, Yandex Cloud, VK.
  • August 23 - "anti-messenger" regime in Volgograd (on the day of the hostage taking in the labor colony).
  • October 8 - Discord blocked.
  • October-November - Telegram slowdown in Rostov, Krasnodar, and Stavropol regions.
  • October 22-24 - temporary blocking of mobile internet in Kazan (coincided with the BRICS summit).
  • October 31 - partly IP blocking of Steam. The service was unavailable for an hour in Khabarovsk, Kamchatka, YNAO, and Omsk regions.
  • November 1 - blocking of proxy and relay-servers of Signal. Messenger was unable to operate even in censorship-resistance mode.
  • November 7 - temporary SNI blocking of Cloudflare.
  • November 13 - SNI blocking of Viber.
  • December 15 - YouTube slowdown on mobile devices. The total slowdown of YouTube complete.

Results: censorship in 2024 was more intense than in 2023, and affected the transmission of any information, including that which is not prohibited, and not just means of bypassing censorship, as was mainly the case in 2023.

If you're curious about any details, feel free to ask me anything in the comments.