Is It Legal to Use Proxies for Arbitrage, SMM, and E-commerce? Legal Analysis 2024

Proxy servers have become an essential tool for arbitrage specialists, SMM professionals, and marketplace sellers. However, many still wonder: am I breaking the law by using proxies for work? In this article, we will analyze the legal aspects of using proxies in business, the real risks, and safe work scenarios.

Spoiler: using proxies is absolutely legal in itself. Problems arise not from the technology, but from the purposes for which you use it and the platform rules you violate.

Legal Status of Proxies in Russia and the World

Let's start with the main point: the use of proxy servers is absolutely legal both in Russia and in most countries around the world. A proxy is merely a technology for routing internet traffic through an intermediary server. In essence, it is no different from using a corporate network or VPN.

There is not a single regulatory act in Russian legislation that prohibits or restricts the use of proxies for business. Federal Law No. 149-FZ "On Information, Information Technologies, and Information Protection" regulates data handling but does not prohibit the use of intermediary servers.

The situation is similar in the USA, Europe, and other jurisdictions. Proxies are used by major corporations for:

• Protecting corporate networks from external threats
• Monitoring competitors and market analysis
• Testing services from different geographical locations
• Ensuring confidentiality of business communications
• Optimizing content loading speed through caching

Problems arise not from the technology itself, but from the purposes for which it is used. If you engage in illegal activities (hacking, fraud, distributing prohibited content) through a proxy, responsibility arises for those actions, not for using the proxy.

Legal Business Scenarios for Using Proxies

Let's consider specific business tasks where the use of proxies is absolutely legal and raises no questions from regulators or common sense:

1. Competitive Analysis and Price Monitoring

Sellers on Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex.Market regularly monitor competitors' prices. This is an absolutely legal marketing practice. Using proxies allows:

• Collecting data without IP blocks due to a high volume of requests
• Seeing current prices for different regions (Moscow, regions differ)
• Automating the process through parsers without the risk of banning the main IP

For such tasks, datacenter proxies are typically used — they are fast and economical for mass parsing.

2. Testing Advertising Campaigns from Different Regions

Marketers launch ads on Yandex.Direct or Google Ads for different regions and want to check how the ads appear to users from Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, or Vladivostok. Proxies with IPs from the desired region allow them to see the actual output.

This is a standard practice for quality control of advertising — there are no legal risks.

3. Protecting Corporate Networks

Companies use proxy servers to filter employee traffic, block malicious sites, and control the use of work internet. This is a basic cybersecurity practice.

4. SEO Monitoring of Website Positions

SEO specialists check the positions of client websites in the search results of Yandex and Google from different cities. Search engines show different results depending on the user's geolocation, so proxies are necessary for an objective assessment.

5. Working with International Platforms

Many services restrict access based on geographical criteria. For example, some advertising exchanges or affiliate programs are only available from the USA or Europe. Using proxies to access such services is legal, provided you do not violate the terms of the service itself.

Platform Rules vs Laws: What's the Difference

This is where the most important part begins. Many confuse violating platform rules (Terms of Service, ToS) with breaking the law. These are fundamentally different things with different consequences.

Breaking the Law

This leads to criminal or administrative liability. Examples include:

• Hacking accounts, phishing — Article 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (unauthorized access)
• Fraud through fake accounts — Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
• Distributing prohibited content — Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and others
• Violating copyright — Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Important: Using proxies is not a violation of any of these articles in itself. Liability arises from specific illegal actions.

Violating Platform Rules (ToS)

This is a contractual relationship between you and the company (Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc.). Consequences include:

• Account suspension
• Ban on the advertising account
• Content removal
• Functionality limitations

But this is not a criminal offense. A platform cannot imprison you or fine you through the court for using proxies. The worst that can happen is termination of your contract (account suspension).

Most platforms do not explicitly prohibit the use of proxies in their ToS, but they do prohibit:

• Creating multiple accounts by one person
• Automating actions (likes, follows, messages)
• Hiding real geolocation to bypass regional restrictions
• Collecting user data (parsing) without permission

Proxies are often used for these purposes, which is why platforms fight against them technically (detecting and banning), but not through the courts.

Risks for Arbitrage Specialists: Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, Google Ads

Traffic arbitrage is a legal business. You buy ads, attract users to affiliate program offers, and earn commissions. Problems arise when you violate the rules of advertising platforms.

Facebook Ads and Instagram

Facebook officially prohibits one person from having multiple advertising accounts. The rules also prohibit:

• Misleading advertising
• Advertising prohibited goods (crypto, dietary supplements without licenses, gambling)
• Cloaking (showing one content to moderators and another to users)

Using mobile proxies and anti-detect browsers (Dolphin Anty, AdsPower) helps bypass the platform's technical restrictions, but does not make your actions legal under Facebook's ToS.

Legal Status: If you are driving traffic to legal offers (goods, services, applications) and not deceiving users — you are not breaking the law. But you are violating Facebook's rules, and the platform may suspend your accounts.

TikTok Ads

TikTok is more lenient towards multi-accounting in advertising but strictly bans:

• Advertising prohibited goods
• Violating copyright in creatives
• Using other people's trademarks

Proxies are mainly needed here for farming accounts (warming up new profiles) and launching ads from different geos. This is a violation of ToS, but not of the law.

Google Ads

Google allows having multiple advertising accounts if you have legitimate reasons for it (different businesses, agency clients). But it prohibits:

• Bypassing bans through new accounts
• Advertising prohibited goods
• Content substitution (cloaking)

Using proxies to launch ads in different geos is normal practice, as long as you are not hiding prohibited content.

Multi-Account Management in SMM: Legal and Practical Aspects

SMM agencies and specialists often manage dozens of client accounts on Instagram, TikTok, VK, and Telegram. This is absolutely legal activity from a legal standpoint — you are providing services under a contract.

Working with Client Accounts

If you have access to client accounts (provided under a contract), using proxies and anti-detect browsers for safe work is a reasonable precaution. Platforms do not prohibit granting access to accounts to trusted individuals.

Recommendation: Use residential proxies for each client account to avoid linking accounts by IP. This will protect clients from accidental bans.

Creating Multiple Accounts for One Brand

Some brands create several accounts on Instagram for different business directions or regions. This may violate the platform's ToS if the accounts are used for artificially inflating reach or deceiving users.

However, if each account engages in real activities, publishes unique content, and does not mislead users — the risks are minimal.

Automating Actions

Mass likes, follows, and unfollows through bots are a direct violation of the rules of all social networks. Instagram, TikTok, and VK actively combat automation and ban such accounts.

From a legal perspective, this is not a crime (unless you are spamming or committing fraud), but platforms have every right to suspend your accounts.

* Mass spamming may fall under the article on violating privacy or fraud if it contains false information.

Parsing Marketplaces: What the Law Says

Parsing (automated data collection from websites) is a gray area from a legal perspective. In Russia, there is no law that explicitly prohibits or permits parsing public data.

What Can Be Parsed Legally

• Public Data: prices, product names, descriptions, ratings on Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex.Market
• Information Without Copyright: facts, figures, statistics
• Data for Personal Use: market analysis, competitor monitoring

What Cannot Be Parsed

• Personal Data of Users: names, phones, emails without consent (Article 13.11 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation, 152-FZ)
• Copyrighted Content: photos, texts, videos without the permission of the rights holder
• Closed Data: information from personal accounts, paid subscriptions

Most marketplaces in their ToS prohibit automated data collection. For example, Wildberries has a clause prohibiting the use of bots and parsers. However, this is a contractual restriction, not a law.

In Practice: Marketplaces technically block IP addresses from which mass parsing is conducted. Using proxies allows bypassing these blocks, but does not make parsing legal from the perspective of the platform's ToS.

How to Parse Safely

1. Use proxies with IP rotation to avoid overloading the marketplace servers
2. Maintain reasonable intervals between requests (no more than 1-2 requests per second from one IP)
3. Only parse public data, do not attempt to bypass authorization
4. Do not republish parsed data for commercial purposes without checking copyright
5. Use data for internal analysis, not for resale

Personal Data and Anonymity through Proxies

Using proxies to protect your anonymity on the internet is absolutely legal. You have the right to privacy of personal data, enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Articles 23, 24) and in 152-FZ "On Personal Data."

When Proxies Protect Your Rights

• Hiding your real IP address from advertising trackers
• Protecting against data collection about your location
• Preventing leakage of information about visited sites
• Bypassing censorship and regional blocks (if it does not violate the law)

However, it is important to understand: anonymity through proxies is not absolute and does not exempt you from liability for illegal actions. If you commit a crime, law enforcement may request logs from the proxy provider (if they are located in Russia or cooperate with Russian authorities).

Collecting Personal Data of Other Users

If you use proxies to collect personal data of other people (emails, phones, addresses from social networks or databases) without their consent — this violates 152-FZ. Liability includes:

• Administrative: a fine of up to 75,000 rubles for individuals (Article 13.11 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation)
• Criminal: in cases of abuse of official position or causing harm (Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)

Proxies in this case are merely a tool, which does not absolve responsibility for illegal data collection.

How to Work Safely: Practical Recommendations

To use proxies for business without legal and reputational risks, follow these recommendations:

1. Use Proxies for Legal Purposes

Ensure that your business model does not violate laws:

• Do not advertise prohibited goods and services
• Do not collect personal data without consent
• Do not deceive users or engage in fraud
• Do not violate copyright

2. Study Platform Rules

Read the Terms of Service of the platforms you work with (Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads, marketplaces). Understanding the rules will help minimize the risk of bans.

3. Choose Reliable Proxy Providers

Work with verified services that:

• Provide clean IP addresses (not from public proxy databases)
• Guarantee confidentiality (do not sell your data)
• Have technical support and transparent working conditions
• Comply with the laws of the jurisdiction in which they operate

4. Use Anti-Detect Browsers Correctly

Dolphin Anty, AdsPower, Multilogin — these are tools for separating digital fingerprints of accounts. Use them for:

• Safely managing client accounts
• Testing ads from different profiles
• Protecting accounts from accidental linking

But remember: anti-detect does not make illegal actions legal. It only reduces the risk of technical detection.

5. Document the Legality of Your Activities

If you work with client accounts:

• Enter into written contracts for SMM services
• Obtain official access to advertising accounts
• Keep records of income and pay taxes

This will protect you in case of claims from clients or tax audits.

6. Do Not Store Logs and Confidential Data

If you work with sensitive information (access to client accounts, payment data):

• Use password managers with encryption
• Do not save passwords in browsers
• Regularly delete old logs and cache
• Use two-factor authentication

Conclusion

The use of proxies for business is absolutely legal in Russia and most countries around the world. Proxies are a technology, not a crime. Problems arise not from the proxies themselves, but from the purposes for which you use them.

Key takeaways from the article:

• Proxies are legal for monitoring competitors, testing ads, SEO analysis, and protecting corporate networks
• Violating platform ToS (Facebook, Instagram, marketplaces) is not a crime; at most, it results in account suspension
• Traffic arbitrage is legal if you promote legal goods and do not deceive users
• SMM services are legal, even if you manage dozens of client accounts through proxies
• Parsing public data is in a gray area — not prohibited by law, but may violate site ToS
• Collecting personal data without consent is prohibited by 152-FZ, regardless of proxy use

The main rule: use proxies for legal business purposes, study platform rules, and be prepared for technical blocks as part of the business process. Proxies do not make illegal actions legal, but they help legal businesses operate more efficiently and safely.

If you plan to work with arbitrage, SMM, or e-commerce, we recommend using residential proxies — they provide maximum anonymity and minimal risk of bans from platforms. For tasks requiring high trust (Facebook Ads, Instagram), mobile proxies with real mobile operator IPs are suitable.