President Vladimir Putin’s sweeping crackdown on the media and social media indicates the government’s determination to stifle any dissenting voices on the Ukraine conflict.
Even if that might mean cutting Russia’s internet network off from the rest of the world, experts say.
An example of the attempt to isolate information that might jeopardize its invasion of Ukraine is the blocking of the social network Facebook.
Often criticized, this is part of a network of information sources that may challenge the Kremlin’s preferred view of the justice and necessity of its invasion.
The Facebook blocking and Twitter restriction announced Friday came on the same day that Moscow backed jail terms for media publishing “false information” regarding the military..
What is Russia’s motivation?
Russia’s motivation “is suppress political challenges at a very tense time for (Vladimir) Putin and the regime, when it comes to those who are asking very difficult questions regarding why Russia continues to wage this war,” said Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Russia thus joins the tiny club of countries that exclude Facebook, the world’s largest social network, along with China and North Korea.
Moscow was expected to quickly overpower its neighbor, but the campaign has already shown signs it might last longer and might unleash great military ferocity.
“It’s a censorship tool of last resort,” Feldstein added.
“They are taking an entire platform offline instead of trying to block specific pages or using all kinds of other mechanisms that are traditionally used,” he said.
Also in Berdyansk peaceful Ukrainians demonstrate that their city does not belong to Russian invaders. I admire the fearless spirit of my compatriots and call on everyone around the globe to support them! Russians must go home. #CourageousBerdyansk pic.twitter.com/rwZuLrHwK8
– Dmytro Kuleba (myDmytroKuleba) March 5, 2022
Reactions in Russia to the invasion of Ukraine
Earlier this week, the independent monitoring group OVD-Info said more than seven thousand people in Russia had been arrested in demonstrations by the Ukrainian invasion launched by Moscow.
Meanwhile, the web monitoring group NetBlocks highlighted that Russia’s moves once morest the social media giants come amid protests “which are coordinated and mobilized through social media and messaging apps.”
Meanwhile, the war takes place during a period of unprecedented repression once morest the Russian opposition.
This has included the murder, imprisonment or expulsion of protest leaders from the country.
“No access to the truth”
Since the beginning of the invasion, the Russian authorities have increased pressure once morest independent media.
That despite the freedom of the press in the country was already rapidly declining.
In this context, Facebook plays a key role in the distribution of information in Russia.
That even despite facing withering criticism in the West on issues ranging from political division to adolescent mental health.
Natalia Krapiva, a tech legal adviser for rights group Access Now, said social media has been a place where independent and critical voices have been speaking out regarding the invasion.
“Facebook is one of the key platforms in Russia,” he said, adding that its loss is “a devastating blow to access to independent information and resistance to war.”
Russia has received unprecedented sanctions from the West for the invasion, but also rejections both symbolic and significant from sources ranging from sports organizations to American technology companies.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and Twitter, however, have become involved in the very sensitive issue of information by blocking the spread of Russian state-linked media outlets.
Russia’s media regulator targeted both, and Roskomnadzor accused Facebook of discriminating once morest state media.
Sanction of technology companies
Large American technology firms such as Apple and Microsoft have announced the cessation of the sale of their products in Russia.
Meanwhile, other companies announced “pauses” of certain commercial activities or links.
On Friday, US Internet service provider Cogent Communications said it had “terminated its contracts” with customers in Russia.
The Washington Post reported that Cogent has “several dozen clients in Russia, and many of them, like the state-owned telecommunications giant Rostelecom, are close to the government.”
It is exactly the kind of measure that Ukrainian officials have been campaigning heavily for, calling for Russia to be deprived of everything from Netflix to Instagram.
However, experts like Krapiva worry regarding what that might mean for critical or dissenting voices inside Russia.
“There is a risk that people do not have access to the truth,” he stressed.
