[tor-project] Nina’s Monthly Status Report, July 2024

[Nina]

Hello! Below is my July’24 report!

In July, I resolved 587 tickets:
On Telegram (@TorProjectSupportBot) - 427
On RT (frontdesk at tpo) - 145
On WhatsApp (+447421000612) - 13
and on Signal (+17787431312) - 2.

My main focus is to help Russian-speaking users get access to Tor. To do 
that I:
1. Share bridges and instructions.
2. Collect feedback.
3. Help with troubleshooting.
4. Monitor censorship events in the Central Asiacountries [1].

The increased internet censorship in Russia, in particular, the 
throttling of YouTube [2], led to an increase in the number of tickets 
at the end of the month.

I continue to collect information on the bug with Tor Browser for 
Android (TBA) not working on Samsung devices [3].

In July'2024, Apple fulfilled the Roskomnadzor request to ban some VPN 
apps from the AppStore[4]. To prepare for their further actions, I 
checked the alternative ways to get and install Tor Browser for Android 
using F-Droid. I wrote updated instructions on how to do that. That 
helped to find an issue with Tor Browser for Android marked as an 
"anti-feature" app on the F-Droid app catalog[5] and how this make 
censored users life more difficult to get TBA. Also, I checked the 
sideloading options for iOS and Onion Browser, which are very difficult 
for regular users to follow.

Also, I continue to reviewRussian translationsin weblate, which often 
helps to improve our user documentation[6].

[1] 
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/issues/40046
[2] 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-25/youtube-throttled-in-russia-in-latest-attack-on-social-media
[3]https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/42714
[4] https://therecord.media/apple-app-store-russia-vpns
[5]
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/41161#note_3050181
[6] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/manual/-/issues/173

Thanks!
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