Ukraine can escape web censorship without Elon Musk and Starlink — Quartz

As Ukrainian and Russian troops battle for control of key cities, a separate battle is underway to secure Ukraine’s access to the internet.

Web traffic has plummeted across Ukraine, especially in areas with the heaviest Russian military presence, according to data from internet monitoring organization NetBlocks. At least part of the fall can be explained by hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the country, which means there are there are fewer people left use Ukrainian Internet services. But there are also reported cases of Russian troops sabotaging Ukraine’s web infrastructure.

In response to public advocacy From a Ukrainian government minister on Saturday, February 26, Elon Musk announced that his satellite internet company, Starlink, would extend its service to Ukraine. Starlink uses satellites in low Earth orbit to broadcast Internet access to places that lack functioning web infrastructure, such as fiber optic cables and cell towers. To access the Internet through Starlink, people need satellite dishes called terminals. Musk also promised to deliver terminals to Ukraine, although he did not specify how many, when or how they would be delivered amid a three-front ground war.

Luckily for Ukrainians, they probably won’t have to rely on Musk to secure the country’s internet access, even in the event of a full Russian takeover. The physical infrastructure that powers the web in Ukraine is vast, owned by many independent internet service providers and has multiple connections to the outside world, according to Doug Madory, director of internet analytics at the network observation firm Kentik. Unlike Cuba, which created nationwide internet blackouts in response to the July protests, Ukraine’s web infrastructure does not have a single chokepoint that an oppressive government could use to stifle internet access all at once. “Ukraine is much more complex than Cuba,” Madory said.

In this map of Ukraine’s web infrastructure from Ukrainian fiber optic cable company Atracom, points marked with an “M” represent where fiber optic cables cross Ukraine’s borders and connect the country to the outside world.

Internet censorship is not new in Ukraine

If Russia succeeds in taking control of Ukraine, a Kremlin-backed government could attempt to censor the internet while keeping it online. The Ukrainian government has been censoring the web since 2017, when then-President Petro Poroshenko banned four Russian websites – social media platforms VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, email service Mail.ru and search engine Yandex – in the name of national security. On Sunday February 27, Google blocked downloads of the application for the Russian media operation RT on Ukrainian territory at the request of the Ukrainian government.

Targeted bans like these can make it harder for the average person to access certain websites. But they’re never 100% effective: savvy citizens and activists can always find ways to evade censorship through “virtual private networks” (VPNs) and communicate in secret through encrypted messaging apps like Signal.

With or without Musk’s satellites, determined Ukrainians will still have a way to use the web to find uncensored information and share news of their situation with the outside world.