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Internet censorship in Russia

In Russia, internet censorship is enforced on the basis of several laws and through several mechanisms. Since 2012, Russia maintains a centralized internet blacklist (known as the "single register") maintained by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).

The list is used for the censorship of individual URLs, domain names, and IP addresses. It was originally introduced to block sites that contain materials advocating drug abuse and drug production, descriptions of suicide methods, and containing child pornography. It was subsequently amended to allow the blocking of materials that are classified as extremist by including them to the Federal List of Extremist Materials.[1] According to Freedom House, these regulations have been frequently abused to block criticism of the federal government or local administrations.[2][3]


A law prohibiting "abuse of mass media freedom" implements a process for the shutting down of online media outlets.[2] In March 2019 the bill which introduced fines for those who are deemed (by the government) to be spreading "fake news" and show "blatant disrespect" toward the state authorities was signed into law.[note 1]


In June 2020, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Russia in a case involving the blocking of websites critical of the government (including that of Garry Kasparov), as the plaintiffs' freedom of speech had been violated.[8]

Status[edit]

Russia was rated "partly free" in Freedom on the Net by Freedom House in 2009 (score 49), 2011 (score 52), 2012 (score 52), 2013 (score 54), and 2014 (score 60) and as "not free" in 2015 (score 62), 2016 (score 65), 2017 (score 66), and 2018 (score 67) where scores range from 0 (most free) to 100 (least free).[note 2]


Russia was on Reporters Without Borders list of countries under surveillance from 2010 to 2013[18] and was moved to the Internet Enemies list in 2014.[19]


Russia was found to engage in selective Internet filtering in the political and social areas and evidence of filtering was found in the conflict/security and Internet tools areas by the OpenNet Initiative in December 2010.[20]


Since at least 2015, Russia has been collaborating with Chinese Great Firewall security officials in implementing its data retention and filtering infrastructure.[21][22][23]


In September 2019, Roskomnadzor began installing equipment to isolate Russia, including mobile phones, from the rest of the Internet in the event the government directs such action, as required by a law taking effect in November 2019. The government's justification was to counteract potential cyber attacks from the United States, but some worried it might create an online "iron curtain".[24]


As of late February 2022, two of the world's leading social media platforms Facebook and Twitter have been restricted in Russia by Roskomnadzor as a wartime measure amid the invasion of Ukraine.[25][26][27][28] Internet rights monitor NetBlocks reported that Twitter and Facebook platforms were restricted, or throttled, across multiple providers on 26 February and 27 February respectively, with the bans becoming near-total by 4 March.[25][26][29]

History[edit]

Internet in 2004–2012[edit]

In 2004 only a minority of Russians (8% of the population) had Internet access.[31] In May 2008, some 32.7 million users in Russia had access to the Internet (almost 30% of the population).[32] In 2012, 75.9 million Russians (53% of the population) had access.[33] In December 2015, most of the country, 92.8 million Russians (70% of the population) had Internet access.[34]


Following his visit to Russia in 2004, Álvaro Gil-Robles, then Commissioner for Human Rights of Council of Europe, noted the high quality of news and reaction speed of Russia's Internet media. Virtually all the main newspapers were available online, some even opting for Web as a sole information outlet. Russia's press agencies (including the most important Ria-Novosti and Itar-Tass) were also well represented in the Web.[31]


In April 2008 Agence France-Presse noted that, "The Internet is the freest area of the media in Russia, where almost all television and many newspapers are under formal or unofficial government control".[35]


As reported by Kirill Pankratov in April 2009 in The Moscow Times:

On Mass Media

27 December 1991

Mass media[edit]

The federal telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor can issue warnings to the editorial board of mass media and websites registered as mass media concerning "abuse of mass media freedom."[2] According to the "Law on Mass Media", such abuse can include "extremist" content, information on recreational drug use, the propagation of cruelty and violence, as well as obscene language.[2][73]


If a media outlet receives two warnings within a year, Roskomnadzor can request a court order shutting down the media outlet entirely.[2]

Citation

11 July 2012

1 November 2012

20 December 2013

21 July 2017

29 July 2017

1 November 2017

Censorship of GitHub in Russia

Sovereign Internet Law

Internet in Russia

Mass surveillance in Russia

Media freedom in Russia

Political repression of cyber-dissidents

Official website of the Russian Department of Monitoring of Communications, Information technologies, and mass Communications (ROSKOMNADZOR)

Normative acts. The website of the Russian Department of Monitoring of Communications, Information technologies, and mass Communications (ROSKOMNADZOR) accessed September 30, 2020

. russiadigitalrights.org. Retrieved 2017-07-05.

"Timeline – Russia Digital Rights"