Russia tried to restrict the flow of information about its war in Ukraine by blocking Facebook Twitter Reach. To combat this, Twitter has announced a new privacy-protecting site to bypass surveillance and censorship. Earlier, both social media platforms said they were trying to restore access to people inside Russia as they blocked the country’s state media from their respective services.
Users can access this version of Twitter by downloading tow Browser, also known as the “onion” service. This browser will allow people to access sites that have the .onion suffix instead of .com. Regular sites like Twitter.com can also be accessed on Tor, but the .onion versions are unique to the browser and prevent sites from being spoofed by malicious actors.
The term “dark web” is commonly associated with illegal sites such as the Silk Road drug market which no longer exists. However, it can also be used by those who wish to access sites censored by repressive governments and remain anonymous for their own safety.
There are also versions of regular sites like Facebook and BBC that are available on Tor. Twitter confirmed that it was developing its own Tor version even before the Russian invasion began.
Software engineer and Internet security expert Alec Muffett announced the new service for Twitter on his account. They have also worked with other companies to set up their onion sites. “This is probably the most important and long-awaited tweet I have written,” he wrote.