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BBC News heads to the dark web with new Tor mirror

BBC News heads to the dark web with new Tor mirror

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Aimed at serving readers where the BBC’s content is blocked

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Image; BBC

BBC News has made a version of its website available on the Tor network, allowing it to be more securely accessed via the anonymising browser. The news organisation is putting its international edition on the network, with coverage available in a variety of languages including Arabic, Persian, and Russian. The Tor network is frequently associated with the dark web, but it’s also a vital tool for anyone looking to preserve their anonymity while accessing regular websites.

The move is aimed at making the BBC’s news coverage available more securely in countries that attempt to restrict access to it such as China, Iran, and Vietnam. Although the BBC’s typical bbc.com/news URL already loads when visited via the browser, BBC News reports that using the “.onion” top level domain prevents spoofing and preserves end-to-end encryption, making it a more secure way to access the news site. Facebook launched a similar mirror back in 2014. 

If you’d like to give the service a go, you can download the Tor browser and head over to Bbcnewsv2vjtpsuy.onion. Alternatively, the Brave browser also includes a Tor browsing mode similar to the Incognito modes offered on other browsers.