Russia: Growing criticism of internet restrictions, call for protests
Internet restrictions in Russia are now also being criticized by the business community and in media loyal to the Kremlin. Protests have been banned.
(Image: Ekaterina Bykova / Shutterstock.com)
In Russia, criticism of the increasing internet restrictions is growing, and now the industrialists' association has also complained to President Vladimir Putin about the increasing state-imposed blocks. This was reported by dpa, citing the state-run Russian news agency Ria Novosti. Meanwhile, the Russian Interior Ministry has warned against participating in unauthorized demonstrations against the internet blocks, which were called for in cryptic online videos for the weekend. The protests are reportedly to take place mainly on Sunday, with calls being spread partly by code words via TikTok. Anyone participating or calling on others to do so must expect legal consequences, the warning stated.
Cautious criticism in Putin's presence
“The restrictions on mobile internet make life difficult for both the economy and citizens,” dpa quotes Alexander Shokhin, the head of the industrialists' association. At its annual meeting in Putin's presence, he assured that they were aware that the internet restrictions were related to security issues: “But due to the high prevalence of mobile technologies in our daily lives, we hope that a systematic and balanced solution will be found, even though we know that this is not an easy task.” The Kremlin chief did not respond to the cautiously worded criticism.
According to the Moscow Times, an activist group that has unsuccessfully tried to register demonstrations is behind the indirect protest calls. The clips, which lack source information, are now asking, for example, for help in searching for a cat – including exact location and time. Opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin also tried to register protests against the restrictions. These were also rejected. The otherwise Kremlin-loyal newspaper “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” recently warned, according to dpa, that Russia risked decoupling itself from the development of the internet economy: “We must not give the security forces the exclusive right to prohibit work in a technology that is crucial for Russia's future.”
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Russian authorities have repeatedly restricted the internet recently, mobile connections are frequently throttled. This is allegedly done for security reasons, but the Kremlin has been trying to control online communication more strictly since the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine. Digital services such as cashless payments, transfers, taxi booking, or orders do not work or only work very unreliably on mobile. YouTube videos are practically no longer accessible, and calls via WhatsApp or Telegram are only possible via VPN. The FSB intelligence service has also been granted the right to shut down the internet completely in certain regions at its discretion. However, the extent of the discontent can only be guessed at.
(mho)
