Russia reins in the internet blocking websites and isolating itself globally

Russia reins in the internet blocking websites and isolating itself globally

President Putin had urged the govt. to ‘stifle’ foreign Internet services and ordered officials to assemble a list of platforms from ‘unfriendly’ states that should be restricted; the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 further prompted bans on social media, messaging apps, and a crackdown on VPNs.

YouTube videos that won’t load. A visit to a popular independent media website that produces only a blank page. Cellphone internet connections that are down for hours or days.

Going online in Russia can be frustrating, complicated and even dangerous.

It’s not a network glitch but a deliberate, multipronged and long-term effort by authorities to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control. Authorities adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won’t comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic.

While it’s still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network apps, those are routinely blocked, too.

Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections and adopting a law punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit.

They also are threatening to go after the popular WhatsApp platform while rolling out a new “national” messenger that’s widely expected to be heavily monitored.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the government to “stifle” foreign internet services and ordered officials to assemble a list of platforms from “unfriendly” states that should be restricted.

Alarming curbs

Experts and rights advocates said that the scale and effectiveness of the restrictions are alarming. Authorities seem more adept at it now, compared with previous, largely futile efforts to restrict online activities, and they’re edging closer to isolating the internet in Russia.

Human Rights Watch researcher Anastasiia Kruope describes Moscow’s approach to reining in the internet as “death by a thousand cuts.” “Bit by bit, you’re trying to come to a point where everything is controlled.”

Kremlin efforts to control what Russians do, read or say online dates to 2011-12, when the internet was used to challenge authority. Independent media outlets bloomed, and anti-government demonstrations that were coordinated online erupted after disputed parliamentary elections and Mr. Putin’s decision to run again for President.

Russia began adopting regulations tightening internet controls. Some blocked websites; others required providers to store call records and messages, sharing it with security services if needed, and install equipment allowing authorities to control and cut off traffic. Companies like Google or Facebook were pressured to store user data on Russian servers, to no avail, and plans were announced for a “sovereign internet” that could be cut off from the rest of the world. Russia’s popular Facebook-like social media platform VK, founded by Pavel Durov long before he launched the Telegram messenger, came under the control of Kremlin-friendly companies. Russia tried to block Telegram between 2018-20 but failed.

Prosecutions for social media posts and comments became common, showing that authorities were closely watching the online space.

Still, experts had dismissed Kremlin efforts to rein in the internet as futile, arguing Russia was far from building something akin to China’s “Great Firewall,” which Beijing uses to block foreign websites.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as Signal and a few other messaging apps. VPNs also were targeted, making it harder to reach restricted websites.

YouTube access was disrupted last summer in what experts called deliberate throttling by authorities. The Kremlin blamed YouTube owner Google for not maintaining its hardware in Russia. The platform has been wildly popular in Russia.

Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure provider, said in June that websites using its services were being throttled in Russia. Independent news site Mediazona reported that several other popular Western hosting providers also are being inhibited.

New law

Cyber lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, founder of Russian internet freedom group Roskomsvoboda, said authorities have been trying to push businesses to migrate to Russian hosting providers that can be controlled. He estimates about half of all Russian websites are powered by foreign hosting and infrastructure providers, many offering better quality and price than domestic equivalents. A “huge number” of global websites and platforms use those providers, he said, so cutting them off means those websites “automatically become inaccessible” in Russia too.

Another concerning trend is the consolidation of Russia’s internet providers and companies that manage IP addresses, according to a July 30 Human Rights Watch report. Last year, authorities raised the cost of obtaining an internet provider license from 7,500 rubles (about $90) to one million rubles (over $12,300), and state data shows that more than half of all IP addresses in Russia are managed by seven large companies, with Rostelecom, Russia’s state telephone and internet giant, accounting for 25%.

A new Russian law criminalised online searches for broadly defined “extremist” materials. That could include LGBTQ+ content, opposition groups, and some songs by performers critical of the Kremlin.