As mentioned earlier, on February 11, Roskomnadzor excluded the domains of WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as several independent media outlets, including DW, from the records of the National Domain Name System of Russia. This effectively means a complete block of these resources in the country. As a result, users cannot access YouTube and WhatsApp either through browsers or mobile applications.
Attempts to access YouTube without a VPN result in an error, as the network equipment cannot link the website addresses to their IPs.
Methods to bypass the blocks are actively discussed in Russian social networks. Users share tips, such as changing DNS servers to public addresses. However, some are concerned that authorities may notice such attempts to circumvent censorship and punish individuals for "searching for prohibited materials," as there has been a law in Russia since 2025 imposing fines of up to 5000 rubles for intentionally searching for "extremist materials" on the internet, including the use of VPNs.
