Russian President Vladimir Putin. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Russia’s problem with internet freedom is an ongoing source of strife for both native and foreign technology companies — particularly those in communications tech. Legislation largely seen as thinly-veiled censorship has caused conflict between Moscow and various businesses, notably social networks and blogging sites. This week, the Kremlin issued a brazen decree, sending letters to Google, Twitter, and Facebook warning all three Silicon Valley giants that if they do not comply with web governance laws, they risk having their services blocked altogether in the country.
The law dictates that companies must deliver data on Russian bloggers whose sites receive more than 3,000 visitors per day, as well as complying with Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor’s requests to take down websites that call for “unsanctioned protests and unrest,”according to the group. Last year, legislation passed giving Russian prosecutors the right to block websites that propagate information about protests without judicial process.
There are multiple unknowns here, starting with how the three tech companies will respond to the Kremlin — if they will at all. If the companies do not comply with the requests, will the government actually apply said sanctions? Blocking Facebook would be going the way of China, and while that seems like a drastic move, Russia made a recent deal that demonstrates its leanings towards that ally when it comes to web governance.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that text of an agreement posted on the Russian government’s website explained a Sino-Russian contract that stipulates that both countries agree to not conduct cyber-attacks against each other, and that they will jointly counteract technology that may “destabilize the internal political and socio-economic atmosphere,” ”disturb public order” or “interfere with the internal affairs of the state.”
Foreign firms aren’t the only ones getting grief from the Kremlin. Vkontakte — Russia’s version of Facebook — was seized from its founder Pavel Durov, who now lives in exile in New York. Earlier this week, Mashable profiled Durov, who has resisted government orders since denying a request from Russian security services to block political opposition groups from using his network to organize anti-government protests in Moscow back in 2011. In 2014, he was forced to relinquish control of the company.
While Russia has never had a balmy relationship with the internet — particularly when U.S.-based tech firms are involved — its approach to censorship and internet governance has only worsened over the last couple of years, especially in the wake of the revelations regarding the U.S. National Security Agency revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013. (Snowden still resides in Moscow incidentally — the irony of the world’s most famous whistleblower on web-based privacy and government control living in asylum in Russia is impossible to ignore.) The Kremlin’s latest aggressive moves look like the proverbial tightening of the noose around the neck of the “free and open” internet, with no end in sight for the government’s conflicts with companies both at home and abroad.
