Unverified: No Evidence Wildberries Lost 10% of Traffic by Blocking VPN Users
“Wildberries experienced a 10% drop in traffic after VPN users were blocked from the site”
The argument in brief
The claim that Wildberries saw a 10% traffic drop after blocking VPN users is circulating online, but no credible source backs it up. Searches of official Wildberries communications, Russian business media, regulatory records, and third-party analytics tools turned up nothing confirming this specific figure. Until a traceable primary source appears, this claim should be treated as unverified.
Why it spread
This claim fits a story many people already believe: that Russia's internet restrictions are backfiring on Russian businesses. That narrative is reasonable and partly true, which makes audiences less likely to question a specific data point that supports it. The tidy 10% figure adds a false sense of precision, making the claim feel researched rather than rumored.
A claim has been spreading that Wildberries, one of Russia's largest e-commerce platforms, lost 10% of its traffic after blocking users who access the site through VPNs. The verdict: this is unverifiable. No credible public source confirms it.
Wildberries has issued no press release or public statement mentioning a 10% traffic drop tied to VPN blocking. That alone is notable — a double-digit traffic loss would be a significant business event for a platform of its size, and companies typically cannot hide such shifts from investors and partners.
Third-party analytics platforms like Similarweb can track broad traffic trends for wildberries.ru, but no published report from any such tool specifically links a 10% decline to VPN restrictions. Russian business outlet RBC, which regularly covers Wildberries, has no verified reporting on this figure either. Roskomnadzor, Russia's internet regulator, has no documented enforcement action against Wildberries producing a measurable drop of this kind.
To be fair, the underlying context is real. VPN use in Russia surged sharply after 2022, as millions of Russians turned to VPNs to access blocked content. It is entirely plausible that a major Russian platform has grappled with how to handle VPN traffic. But plausible context is not evidence. The specific 10% figure has no traceable origin — no study, no internal leak, no credible journalist has sourced it.
Claims like this spread because a precise-sounding number feels like proof. "10%" sounds like someone measured something. In reality, specific figures with no cited source are a common feature of misinformation — they borrow the appearance of data without providing any. When you see a striking statistic about a company or policy, ask one question: where did that number come from?
Sources
- Wildberries Official Communications
No official press release or public statement from Wildberries confirming a 10% traffic drop specifically attributed to VPN user blocking has been found in publicly available sources.
- Similarweb / Web Traffic Analytics
Third-party traffic analytics tools can measure overall traffic trends for Wildberries, but no published report specifically attributing a 10% drop to VPN blocking has been identified in verifiable public data.
- Roskomnadzor (Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications)
Russian regulatory authorities have pursued VPN restriction policies, but no specific documented enforcement action against Wildberries resulting in a measurable 10% traffic decline has been publicly confirmed.
- RBC (RBK) Russian Business Media
Russian business media has covered Wildberries' platform developments and traffic metrics, but no specific verified reporting of a 10% traffic drop due to VPN blocking has been located in their published archives.