Let’s say I live under an oppressive regime (don’t we all?) How can I use social media anonymously, so I don’t face reprisals from the government?

Mastodon, Lemmy, Reddit and other social media platforms restrict users who connect through TOR or a VPN.

Is there any way I can create an account on these services and use them anonymously?

Thanks in advance for any information and advice you can provide.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    Only mildly sarcastic, but even if you’re trying to be careful, you reveal a lot about yourself by making comments at all or interacting with a community at all. Your interests, your writing style, your browser footprint, etc. etc. It’s very difficult to not be truly unique if someone out there is purposefully tracking you as an individual. Depending on where the instance is hosted, they may be required to keep server logs and may further be required to divulge those to police for lawful investigations. “Lawful” obviously can vary widely in interpretation, depending on local corruption levels. I know that if I was of interest in an investigation it would not be hard at all to link me to my real identity, and I just sort of live with that.

  • Brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    2·
    2 months ago

    Mastodon, Lemmy, Reddit and other social media platforms restrict users who connect through TOR or a VPN

    That’s not network-wide, each Lemmy/Mastadon instance can do their own thing in regards to Tor or VPN. Find an instance that allows that or run your own.

    Not sure if Reddit changed recently but I just tested logging in/out of an old Reddit account via Tor and it worked fine. But I mostly avoid Reddit nowadays so can’t be sure my posts/comments would work there. Also note their Tor site still works most of the time, you can actually view Reddit that way if you wanted https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/

    (posting this comment via Tor)

    • ConsistentParadox@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      Fair enough, I only tried the big instances. I will try lemmy.org as another user suggested.

      I had tried making a Reddit account through Mullvad recently, but it shadowbanned me. Same through TOR. Unfortunately some communities I want to participate in are concentrated over there.

  • UnknowableNight@piefed.socialEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Never had a problem on Lemmy or Mastodon with a VPN. If you create a Reddit account through a VPN, though, you will get shadowbanned. I made my Lemmy and Mastodon accounts with a VPN and had zero issues.

    • ConsistentParadox@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      I made a new Reddit account through Mullvad a while ago and immediately got shadow banned. Reddit has been aggressive against new users who use TOR/VPN and browsers that resist fingerprinting.

  • Zerush@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 months ago

    If you don’t post suspicious or radical content, even in oppressive regimes there are no problems. This also means that in these regimes using encrypted messages can be suspicious and a very close look from the authorities. In these regimes, then, it is often used to exchange problematic messages through steganography, that is, to hide these messages in innocent images, texts or music that do not arouse suspicion. Some OpenSource apps and services:

    etc…

    There are always manners to show the middle finger to these regimes

  • RadioactiveShark@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Fellow under an oppressive regime! I signed onto Fediverse entirely through VPN with no issues! Be very careful to not say too much about yourself so they can track you; lie. Lie a lot. When not lying, do not give away any information about yourself.