Twitter launched a privacy-protected model of its web site to bypass surveillance and censorship after Russia restricted entry to its service within the nation.
Russia blocked entry to Fb and restricted Twitter in an try to limit the circulate of details about its battle in Ukraine. Each corporations stated they have been working to revive entry for folks inside Russia, whilst they restricted the nation’s state media from accessing their companies.
Generally known as the “onion” service, customers can entry this model of Twitter in the event that they obtain the Tor Browser, which permits customers to entry websites on what’s also referred to as the “dark web”. . As an alternative of .com, onion websites have a .onion suffix. Common web sites, together with Twitter.com, may also be accessed on Tor, however the .onion variations are designed particularly for Tor and stop the positioning from being spoofed by malicious actors.
Whereas the time period “dark web” brings to thoughts unlawful websites similar to the previous Silk Highway drug market, it’s also usually utilized by folks searching for to stay nameless for his or her security and in addition to entry websites censored by criminals. repressive governments.
Fb and different websites just like the BBC even have variations accessible on Tor. Twitter’s model has been within the works for a while, since earlier than the Russian invasion, the corporate confirmed on Wednesday.
Software program engineer and web safety knowledgeable Alec Muffett, who has labored with different corporations to arrange onion websites, introduced Twitter’s new service on his personal Twitter account.
“This may be the most important and long-awaited tweet I’ve ever composed,” he wrote.