Firefox browser blocks VPN for Russians
The American company Mozilla, the creator of the Firefox browser, has blocked the installation of VPN plugins in Russia. Access to censorship circumvention extensions has been blocked at the request of Roskomnadzor, a representative of the developer told Kommersant.
«After recent legislative changes in Russia, we have been receiving persistent requests from Roskomnadzor to remove five extensions from the Mozilla Add-ons store. After careful consideration, we have temporarily restricted their availability in Russia,» he said. The source emphasized that Mozilla is aware of the consequences of these actions and is considering further steps, taking into account the local community.
The ban applies to the addons.mozilla.org (AMO) catalog for Firefox. Among the blocked extensions are Censor Tracker, PlanetVPN, FastProxy, and Runet Censorship Bypass. When trying to access their pages from a Russian IP address, a message appears stating that the content is unavailable in the region.
Conclusion
The American browser Firefox has temporarily prohibited the installation of VPN plugins for users in Russia. This decision was made in response to requests from Roskomnadzor, the Russian media watchdog, to remove certain extensions that allow users to bypass censorship. While Mozilla is considering its next steps, the blocked extensions, including Censor Tracker, PlanetVPN, FastProxy, and Runet Censorship Bypass, are currently unavailable to Russian users.