Twitter launches on dark web to evade censorship

Russia restricted access to the social network after accusing platform of spreading ‘fake’ reports about Ukraine invasion

'Assume that Dream Market is compromised,' a dark web monitor warned. 'Law enforcement ran [drug market] Hansa as a honeypot for 30 days after seizing it. This feels very similar'

Twitter has launched on the dark web, allowing people in Russia and other countries that have banned the social network to evade censorship.

Russia blocked access to Facebook and restricted access to Twitter last week in retaliation to the platforms placing restrictions on state-owned media like Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik.

Roskomnadzor, the country’s communications regulator, cited 26 cases of “discrimination” against Russian media since October 2020, though the move also made it harder for ordinary citizens to access footage and information from reliable sources of Russia’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.

Anyone accused of intentionally spreading what the Kremlin deems to be “fake” reports faces up to 15 years in prison.

People in Russia will now be able to access Twitter anonymously via the dark web – a hidden section of the internet that is only accessible via specialist software.

It can be reached through the Tor browser or a similar tool, which can be downloaded like any other application. In countries where Tor itself is blocked, it can still be accessed through a tool known as a Tor bridge.

Software engineer Alec Muffett was the first to announce the news via Twitter, having helped set up the new system.

Facebook launched its own dark web version of its platform in 2014, citing “security and privacy” reasons.

“You get around the censorship and local adversarial surveillance, and it adds another layer of security on top of your connection,” the company said at the time.

The BBC, New York Times, and other news outlets also offer Tor-specific websites in order to allow readers to access their content in countries that they are banned, such as China and North Korea.

While it allows people to hide their online presence by encrypting their web traffic and routing it through a series of servers around the world, anyone caught using banned sites in countries where they are censored still risk severe punishments if they are ever caught.

Twitter’s Tor service can be found at this address: https://twitter3e4tixl4xyajtrzo62zg5vztmjuricljdp2c5kshju4avyoid.onion