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How can I use social media anonymously? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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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.

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[–] 18 points 5 months ago (1 child)

I've been using Lemmy and previously Reddit for years with a VPN without issue.

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  • [–] [S] 7 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Only VPN I've ever used is Mullvad. Granted I didn't use it to create my account but I've been accessing it for 4 years with it.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    Granted I didn’t use it to create my account

    I bet that's like 90% of what they care about tho. They really want to ID you when you first sign up, but they might care not as much about day to day use.

    It's fuzzier with reddit tho. Used to be you could sign up with a VPN with success. Some still have accts made like that. They are much sticklier now. It maybe possible but just rarely, and nobody seems to know what makes the diff. It also used to be posible to sign up with Tor, but today that's instant shadowban.

    My side rant is that shadowbans are MF-ing evil. I got caught in one because I used a VPN to sign up. I only ever tried to answer people on a tech help sub. I was posting in good faith. Tried to be helpful and contribute to the community. But none of my posts were ever being engaged with. No upvotes, no downvotes, no replies. Finally I looked without being signed in ("open in private window") and sure enough... nobody but me could see my posts.

    It felt bad, man. I put my time and effort into trying to help other people, for nothing.

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