The work of the Russian propaganda machine would be easier if it weren't for social media.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Co spread news all over the world in a matter of seconds, including some that the government would like to ban: pictures of the war in Ukraine, bombed-out houses, people fleeing and, last but not least, the pleading speeches of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Russian people.

The obvious idea of ​​a dictatorship is therefore to block hated content, as Russia did with Facebook and Instagram earlier this month.

Corinna Budras

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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A Russian court has just approved this decision and banned the platforms for alleged "extremist activities".

However, the also very popular messenger service Whatsapp is not affected by this, it also belongs to the large Facebook empire, which has recently been operating under the name Meta.

The group did not want to comment on the decision on Tuesday.

He also did not comment on the actions of the Russian regulatory authorities.

But after the first few weeks of the blockade, it is becoming increasingly clear that social media cannot be shut down as easily as a McDonald's branch in Moscow.

Reports of ways to circumvent the lockdown are piling up.

With the help of VPN tunnels, it is still possible to access Facebook and Instagram pages from Russia.

This is not even particularly difficult, reports users from Russia.

It is uncomfortable, however, that more and more providers of such tunnels are blocked and new ones therefore have to be set up again and again.

Not like China

There are no official figures on how many people are able to do this.

However, even the Russian authorities seem to be aware that a number of users are ignoring the ban.

In any case, the Attorney General's office this week conceded that Russian citizens are not being prosecuted just for using meta-products.

That, too, is possibly nothing more than a capitulation to the factual.

The holey ban can be seen as a rather clumsy attempt to emulate the censorship state of China.

Two decades ago, China began decoupling itself from the digital world and building its own self-sufficient network.

But experts fear that a split is also within reach in the case of Russia.

Because Moscow also embarked on this path ten years ago.

Now it is about to launch its so-called RuNet, a kind of nationwide monitored intranet.

This could further fragment the Internet - with drastic effects on freedom of expression in the world.

However, without such a self-sufficient network, it is difficult to contain Western Internet services.

This is also shown by the example of the Internet company Google.

Its offers are freely accessible in Russia, including the video platform "Youtube", which is probably the most unbridled means of unfiltered expression of opinion.

Interestingly, the wishes of Russian regulators there go in the opposite direction: the media regulator has accused YouTube of “censoring” this media and has asked the company to unblock dozens of Russian state media channels again.

According to media reports, there are 54 such cases, including television stations with large audiences, but also Russian radio stations and news agencies.

Should Youtube not bow down, the regulators threatened "technical intervention", i.e. blocking the service themselves.

No more income from ads

This is also part of the complex power game between Internet giants and the Russian state power: the platforms have long since switched to moderating content on their sites.

If posts violate the “house rules”, they will be banned and made almost untraceable. Entire pages will also be removed in the case of stubborn violations.

YouTube has announced that it will block channels and content if they deny Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But the interventions go much further - in unusual agreement with the European Union, which otherwise fights its own battles with Google, Facebook & Co.

For example, the EU imposed a ban on Russian state broadcasters such as RT, and the private corporations immediately implemented this in their own sphere of influence.

The apps of the state media authorities can no longer be found in the Google App Store either.

The affected Internet companies are calm about the immense Russian pressure.

They stubbornly insist on making their services available to the masses of people in Ukraine and Russia as much as possible and protecting local employees from reprisals.

However, it is important for both Facebook and Google that they are no longer commercially active in Russia, both affirm.

They no longer earn money with ads in the crisis region.