Explainer-Russia’s Internet Crackdown By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – On the day Russian troops poured into Ukraine, Russian state communications regulator Roskomnadzor issued a statement demanding that the media use only official Russian sources to cover the “special operation” in Ukraine. Otherwise, they can be blocked and fined up to 5 million rubles.

Russian authorities, who did not comment on this article, have since doubled censorship in Russia. On March 4, lawmakers passed amendments criminalizing “discrediting” the Russian armed forces or calling for sanctions against Russia.

Lawmakers made the distribution of “fake” information a crime punishable by fines or up to 15 years in prison, a move that led some international news outlets to shut down coverage in Russia.

Authorities also restricted access to Facebook (NASDAQ:) and Twitter (NYSE:) and blocked several independent media outlets and Ukrainian websites.

In response, Twitter said people should have free and open access to the internet, especially in times of crisis. Nick Clegg, president of global affairs for Facebook’s parent company Meta, said millions of ordinary Russians would be cut off from reliable information.

Several Russian media have suspended their work. Ekho Moskvy, a liberal radio station, was disbanded by the board after the attorney general’s office blocked its website over coverage of the war. Television channel Rain has suspended its activities after its website was blocked. Novaya Gazeta newspaper, whose editor Dmitry Muratov was a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize last year, said it would pause its work until the end of Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine.

Even before the invasion, online censorship was on the rise. Prior to last September’s elections, major internet outages were caused by a crackdown on websites linked to imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and technology used to circumvent online bans.

By 2021, some 200,000 websites were blocked, data from Roskomsvoboda, a group that oversees internet freedom in Russia, shows. They include the OVD-Info website, which has been documenting anti-Kremlin protests for years. This year, on March 10, according to Roskomsvoboda, more than 46,000 sites have been blocked.

(reporting by Lena Masri; editing by Janet McBride)