Photo: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

LinkedIn traffic in September of this year was 1.4 million people, which is 39% lower than in September 2016 (2.3 million people), before the service was blocked in Russia. This is evidenced by data from the research company Mediascope (prepared at the request of RBC; they take into account the number of people who accessed the social network at least once from a desktop, mobile device or mobile application for the specified period, among residents of cities with a population of more than 700 thousand people aged 12-64 years).

Providers began blocking LinkedIn in Russia in mid-November last year. The reason was the company’s violation of the law on personal data, according to which personal data of Russians must be stored and processed in the country from September 1, 2015. In August 2016, the Tagansky District Court of Moscow found the social network LinkedIn to have violated the law, to which it filed an appeal. However, on November 10 last year, the Moscow City Court rejected the complaint, and a week later Roskomnadzor sent telecom operators an order to block LinkedIn in Russia.

Before the blocking, in October 2016, according to Mediascope, LinkedIn had 2.6 million users in Russia, in November - 2.5 million. However, already in December, traffic to the resource dropped to 1.5 million people.

SimilarWeb provided similar statistics to RBC. In October 2016, the number of unique LinkedIn users in Russia was 3.5 million people (desktop and mobile version). In November last year, this figure fell to 2.8 million, and in December - to 1 million people. Based on the results of October this year, the audience social network in Russia remained at the same level - the same 1 million users, according to SimilarWeb data.

In May 2017, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the head of Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov, said that the topic of resuming LinkedIn’s work in Russia could be raised in the fall. According to him, by this time Microsoft’s deal to acquire LinkedIn will be finalized and then “ Microsoft company will consider what it will do with LinkedIn.” Then Zharov said that LinkedIn’s official position at present is that the company does not have the ability to comply with Russian laws.

The Russian representative office of Microsoft refused to comment on the topic of blocking LinkedIn. “To date, LinkedIn has not contacted Roskomnadzor regarding the resumption of dialogue,” a representative of the department noted in turn. At the time of writing, LinkedIn had not responded to RBC’s questions.

Block unblockable

The audience in Russia is retained not only by LinkedIn, but also by other blocked resources, for example, the popular torrent tracker RuTracker.org. Access to it in Russia was permanently restricted back in January 2016. As RBC previously reported, according to SimilarWeb, a year later, in December 2016, the site recorded about 29.9 million visits from Russia compared to 52.9 million in December 2015. Over the past year, RutRacker traffic remained at the level of 38.8-29.9 million users.

Just like the neighbors

Similar statistics are observed in Ukraine, where on May 16, 2017, by decree of the country’s President Petro Poroshenko, the activities of Russian companies were prohibited, including the Mail.Ru Group holding (with all its services, including the social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki) and Yandex " Despite this, six months after VKontakte was blocked, it is one of the most visited resources in the country. In the top of the most popular sites based on the results of October 2017, in terms of the number of unique users, the Russian social network remains in tenth place (in April, before blocking, it was in second place). It is ahead of Mail.Ru in eighth place (previously fourth) and Facebook in fourth (eighth in April).

Director for Strategic Projects at the Internet Research Institute, Irina Levova, noted to RBC that statistics for the first half of the year show that it is impossible to completely block resources on the Internet. “As all the experts predicted, people will continue to use their usual services using VPNs and other tools that easily allow them to bypass blocks,” she noted.

However, Russian authorities hope that the situation can be corrected with the help of new legislation. On November 1, a law regulating anonymizers, VPNs and other services that allow access to blocked sites came into force in Russia. Now, if they do not independently block sites banned in Russia, they themselves will be blacklisted.

Like RBC Zharov, most VPN services have agreed to comply with Roskomnadzor’s requirements. “In Russia there are 25-30 proxy and VPN services that are popular among the population. Among them are cameleo.ru, 2ip.ru, etc. They all expressed their readiness to comply with the law, and in our conversation with them there was no misunderstanding. It is clear that there are still hundreds of thousands of small and homemade VPNs - making such a service is, in principle, not difficult. But the law is focused primarily on the services that are most popular among citizens,” he said, commenting on the law coming into force.

However, it is unlikely that it will be possible to reduce the audience of blocked resources even with the new legislation, experts are sure. “A significant number of large VPN services have already reported that they are not going to work with Roskomnadzor, and those users who wanted to have already installed necessary programs“, says Karen Kazaryan, chief analyst of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications.

In the case of LinkedIn, the new law will also not work, he continues. “The social network has a certain audience. As a rule, these are professionals who are associated with international companies. It seems to me that nothing will change much, and given the new discussions, attendance will even increase, as more people will learn about the existence of VPN services,” he concluded.

“War cannot be avoided, it can only be postponed - to the benefit of your enemy” Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527).

Small disposition:

According to Alexa, LinkedIn is one of the top 20 most popular sites in the world.

In June 2016, LinkedIn Corporation was acquired by Microsoft Corporation for $26.2 billion.

The core team remained to manage and develop LinkedIn.

Based on the results of the published joint plans, it is expected that LinkedIn will be seriously integrated with other Microsoft products, primarily related to business, and will become an even more powerful ecosystem for the business world, which has no analogues yet.

As soon as rumors about a possible blocking of Linkedin began to appear, they began to write to me and ask: what to do, how this will affect work and where the data will go.

You need to correctly understand that blocking involves closing access in Russia at the provider level, and nothing will happen to the data itself. The account will remain as it was. Hence the joke that Linkedin will be blocked, but the spam from it will remain. For some users, the application continued to work normally even after being blocked.

The blocking itself can be bypassed, for example, by using anonymizers, as well as using a VPN, for example in the Opera browser. To do this you need to download latest version browser (it has a built-in VPN), then in the settings, turn on the checkbox next to the word VPN in the “security” section.

For more advanced users, the Tor browser can be used, but for beginners it may not be secure.

Extensions for Google Chrome, for example, how to bypass the blocking of the rutracker site.

Sales and networking via Linkedin

I expect that some Russian companies and LinkedIn users in Russia will stop using the service due to the fact that they either do not know how to bypass the blocking or do not want to spend time and effort on solving this problem. Before this, the social network was not as popular in Russian companies as, for example, in the USA, Europe, Australia and a number of Asian countries. And now, due to the blocking, there will be even fewer Linked users.

On the one hand, this increases the value of employees who continue to use LinkedIn despite the blocking. What the Vedomosti newspaper wrote about, for example, the following phrase: “A new sign of a good specialist has already appeared - how often he updates his profile on LinkedIn after being blocked,” in fact, really determines the temperament of candidates, especially in the IT field. After all, bypassing the blocking is not difficult.

Moreover, if we are talking about selling services for foreign partners in Russia and the CIS, about networking and selling services, for example, then using LinkedIn will become even more valuable and will generate more income for those who continue to use it. Also, I assume that the cost of information, as well as the cost of attracting customers, may seriously increase due to reduced competition within the country.

A little about the internal economy

The Titanic is sinking - that's a fact - and it is not yet clear how much longer it will sink and when it will reach the bottom. It is not clear how likely it is that it will not sink or that it will be raised, but that’s how it is for now.

With the overall local economy shrinking, LinkedIn's ban will hit companies that operate real businesses that aren't tied to government budgets or grants even harder. Accordingly, they will need a channel (rather, channels) where they can receive orders from the real sector, especially from those countries where money is abundant (again, the USA, some European countries, China, Singapore and others).

To put it simply, in Russia money is an expensive resource. Many companies (especially small ones) have an acute shortage of them. Due to the blocking of LinkedIn, the ease of obtaining finance, simple loans and attracting investments, including foreign ones, into Russian business has sharply decreased.

Those who will not stop working on LinkedIn or other similar resources - people, companies, but will continue to develop this area, continue to work and attract companies where “cheap money”, their value in the vast Russian business will increase sharply due to greater demand and decreased competition. The value of knowing how to work with this tool will be very high. Such specialists, if the blockade is not lifted in the near future, will become akin to the cool tops from global corporations. And companies that use LinkedIn will maintain their positions or even rise.

That is, it remains, in essence, to decide whether to adopt “Link” or not. And if you take it, then choose specialists in this topic, invest in them, choose a strategy of behavior and forward to conquering the world! Well, or at least conquering the Forbes list.

I recently wrote a post about a possible blocking, in which I decided to express my opinion about the blocking of LinkedIn to the presidential adviser on Internet development, German Klimenko, who was one of my friends. At first he left my post on his page, but then apparently he was somehow “pressured” and he deleted both the post and himself from my contact list. This is roughly how the dialogue between entrepreneurs, experts and government officials is taking place now.

Apparently the guys don’t quite understand what LinkedIn is, what kind of resource it is and how much such blocking affects the prestige of Russia. Perhaps they also do not understand that both Russians and Russian companies spent a lot of money on promoting personal and corporate accounts, again, to bring our Russian business to the international level, and with access to international financial instruments.

And the reason is that LinkedIn does not comply with the requirements of Russian legislation to store personal data of users in Russia. Although, both Facebook and Twitter also ignored this requirement. There is clearly a dual approach.

I believe that German Klimenko and, in general, experts on the development of the Internet in Russia could look into the issue and prove that this will negatively affect many areas of business and (I dare say) the Russian economy as a whole.

Also, the active participation of Olga Golodets, Deputy Prime Minister, is strange Russian Federation, and her persistent promotion of the Rostrud portal. She recommended that everyone dissatisfied with the blocking of LinkedIn look for work through the “Work in Russia” vacancy database. Meanwhile, although LinkedIn helps you find a job, this is only 10% of its capabilities. After all, LinkedIn is not a job exchange.

LinkedIn is an international network that can hardly be replaced by a local social network or job exchange. It’s the same as leaving international relations and working only with rubles. This is a kind of “iron curtain”. But then let’s refuse, for example, Apple and Microsoft products and replace them with what?! Weak? And from foreign cars?!

It may sound naive, but it is stupid to refuse quality products without worthy analogues.

Of course, many in our country depend on state money and budgets, tenders, and free enterprise is becoming less and less, only the most nimble survive. So they are also trying to knock out one of the most effective ways of obtaining and attracting real clients and money for free business.

Therefore, I recommend that specialists use the blocking bypass with full moral justification. And companies that want to receive large international contracts should hire experts, agencies and continue to take advantage of the LinkedIn network.

Founder of the smart solutions agency S4, evangelist of networking and business network LinkedIn

FinExecutive Russia website 2019-07-24

Bypass Linkedin Blocking: 4 simple ways

All over the world, the business social network LinkedIn is an effective tool for finding jobs, employees and new business partners. If you have been using an account registered on this popular recruiting portal for a long time and want to maintain a network of professional contacts after restrictions are introduced, and also still learn how to bypass LinkedIn blocking, use our tips that will help you bypass all the restrictions without much effort.

Good afternoon Dear readers and guests of the blog site, probably many of you have more than once encountered the situation that some previously favorite site stops opening for you, most often these are torrent trackers, but there are also quite harmless resources, for example, linkedin.com. That's what I'm looking for couldn't access from your Internet provider. Today I will tell you why linkedin does not open and how to fix it. I think this will be very useful for many people who would like to post their resume.

Why doesn't linkedin open?

If anyone doesn’t know what the linkedin.com resource is, then it’s

The world's largest network of professional contacts. More than 500 million participants. Manage your professional online presence. Build your professional network and collaborate with its members. Gain new knowledge, ideas and opportunities

In essence, this is an analogue of our hh.ru, but on a global scale, where any company can easily find the necessary employee. I have long wanted to have a profile there, but when I tried to open the site, I saw an error:

Can't access the site

Timed out waiting for a response from the site ru.linkedin.com.

Try the following:

ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

I have already seen such an error and told you how this problem is solved on the DNS side, but this case did not fit there, since traffic was simply blocked to this resource on the provider’s side.

After googling a little and finding out why linkedin.com does not open for me, I found out that this social network was included in the register of unscrupulous sites and all providers were obliged to block it, sadly, but no one has canceled the ways to circumvent this ban.

In order to open linkedin from Russia, you can use at least 3 methods, which I will discuss below, but of course there are many more.

• The first method is to use the onion browser TOR, read the detailed manual at the link. In a nutshell, this is a special browser that allows you to access the Internet from anywhere in the world, bypassing the ban from your provider. This is what it looks like when you open linkedin.com. You build a chain of three nodes, on the third you go online and gain access to the required resource.

• The second method on how to open linkedin is to use Browsec extension or its equivalent. As I described in detail, I advise you to watch and install Browsec. Turn it on via the On switch and select the desired exit point; in the free version you can use 4 countries.

• The third method to bypass the ban on opening the linkedin.com website is to use free or paid Proxy servers, since there are a huge number of them. They are quietly in search engines. I described in detail how to register a proxy in the browser, take a look. These are some simple ways that can help you open linkedin from Russia or any other country. Create your resume there and look for the company you need.

Let's look at how to bypass blocking of the LinkedIn website on any device.

Among all the CIS countries, LinkedIn is blocked only in Russia, but users continue to use the resource.

Despite all the warnings from the authorities, many consider the blocking to be unfounded.

In fact, LinkedIn has never been involved in situations of identity theft or unauthorized processing.

The reasons for the blocking are quite ambiguous. The laws of the Russian Federation that regulate the activities of such sites are sharply criticized by all representatives of the global IT industry.

This means that you can continue to use the resource without any problems, bypassing the ban. This does not threaten your personal data in any way.

Note, ordinary users have the right to use prohibited sites, even if they were closed on the territory of the Russian Federation. Sanctions apply exclusively to developers. You will not be held liable for working withLinkedIn. There are several very simple and effective ways to bypass the blockingLinkedInand access the site without any problems.

Bypass blocking from your computer

Over the past few years, the number of ways to restore access to sites has increased several times.

A lot of new software is constantly appearing on the Internet, which not only opens access to prohibited resources, but also maintains absolute anonymity on the Internet.

This means that no one will be able to track your exact location while you are browsing the site.

All options for bypassing the blocking are related to the operating principle - a virtual private network, which changes the IP address of your device.

In simple words, when you go to a prohibited site, you will be identified by the provider not as a user from Russia, but, for example, from the USA. Access to the resource will be allowed.

Example of workVPN:

For computers and mobile devices There is a lot of useful software for enabling VPN.

If you often use LinkedIn on your computer, we recommend using one of the programs described below.

There are 2 types of software:

• For browser;
• Desktop

Anonymizers for the browser

Browser bypass tools only work in this program. With your VPN enabled browser, you can access any swamped resource.

But if you decide to download the client version of LinkedIn for PC, such a program will not work.

You will need to install a program to change any program on your computer.

The program you need depends on the browser you are using. Also, many browsers have a built-in VPN function.

This function is best implemented in .

When you need to launch a swamp site, you simply click on one button to the left of the address bar. It changes your current IP address.

Other browsers with built-in unblocking functionality: FreeU , Yandex , .

If you work with other browsers, you can simply download the VPN utility from the plugin store.

The best universal and free extensions For Chrome , Firefox , , , MS Edge and any other browser:

• – set up protected web browsing with one click in the browser menu. In the free version, more than 10 countries are available to users. There are no restrictions on traffic or time for using the plugin;

• is an unlimited VPN. The plugin can be easily found in any extension store. 100% guarantee of a secure connection to the resource;

Desktop programs

If you use LinkedIn or have downloaded the client version of the application for this social network, it will be more convenient to install a desktop VPN.

It will work immediately in all browsers and programs that are on the computer.

Popular apps:

• Private Internet Access – an application that does not store logs and does not record absolutely any data about your PC. There is a paid and free version, which differ in the list of available countries;

• TorGuard – allows you to select one of several types of servers to work with wetlands and various . IP addresses from 18 countries are available to users.

Method for smartphone and tablet

There are also special services for bypassing blocking via VPN for smartphones and tablets.

They are installed on the device as a separate application.

The best software foriOS AndAndroid:

• NordVPN . Establish a secure connection to any site using free utility NordVPN. Launch the software, register, select your country from the list. Then minimize the program and work with your favorite sites and other applications that were previously blocked;

• AltVPN – cross-platform service for changing the IP address of a device. It features fast loading web pages, a simple interface and works with 40 countries;