The demand for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in Russia has skyrocketed by 2,088 per cent higher in response to the Government’s banning of Instagram .

The Government’s move is a response to unprecedented Western sanctions over its actions in Ukraine as it is battling to control the flow of information. It has moved to stifle foreign social media firms with traffic slowdowns and outright bans in the case of Facebook and Instagram. The action against Instagram followed Meta’s decision last week to allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages, such as “Death to the Russian invaders”. Still, it rolled back that decision, announcing on Monday that calls for violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russians, in general, were no longer permitted on its platforms. Russia banned several VPNs last year but has failed to block them entirely, as part of broader campaign critics say stifles Internet freedom.

Meantime, Amazon Web Services continues to operate in Russia, but are not taking on any new customers. Both Cloudflare, which helps shield websites from denial-of-service attacks and malware, and Akamai also continue to serve their Russian customers, with exceptions including cutting off State-owned companies and firms under sanctions.

Microsoft has not yet declared if it would halt its cloud services, although it has suspended all new sales of products and services.