The underside of the infox, the chronicle

Russia: the Kremlin tightens censorship and saturates propaganda networks

Audio 03:44

The texts adopted this Friday, March 4 allow the Russian authorities to strengthen their arsenal to control the story they tell the Russian population of the invasion of Ukraine.

AP - Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr.

By: Sophie Malibeaux |

Gregory Genevrier Follow

5 mins

While the war in Ukraine continues, the vice of censorship continues to tighten in Russia.

A strategy put in place by Vladimir Putin to impose his narrative outside as well as inside his country, where Russian society finds itself put under glass.

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Speech in Russia has never been more closely monitored and locked down than since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. A law passed on March 4 by the Russian parliament, the Duma, has become the symbol of this censorship.

The text provides for up to 15 years in prison for anyone questioning government information or publishing so-called " 

 " information on the situation in Ukraine.

The use of the terms “war”, “invasion” or even “offensive” is therefore prohibited. 

The law which heavily punishes, up to 15 years in prison, any criticism of the war or questioning official information is now in force in Russia.

The consequences are already heavy and decisive for the future.

1/7

— Anna Colin Lebedev (@colinlebedev) March 5, 2022

This

prevents any questioning of Moscow's narrative on this war, disguised as a simple "military operation".

The independent media can therefore no longer properly exercise their profession by freely informing the population.

“ 

 ”, only three days after its implementation, 

.

The simple fact of affirming the existence of Ukrainian civilian victims is risky, because these facts contradict the official version.

Dozens of journalists therefore

.

The end of independent media 

In this context of oppression, the few independent media present in the country prefer to give up their activities.

On March 3, 2022, the

TV channel suspended its work, and

dissolved itself under pressure from the Kremlin.

On Monday, March 28,

.

This newspaper, run by Dmitri Muratov, Nobel Peace Prize 2021, was one of the last symbols of resistance.  

❗ Мы получили еще одно предупреждение Роскомнадзора.

После этого мы приостанавливаем выпуск газеты в Сетях и на бумаге - «до окончания« специальной операции на территории украины ».

С уважением, редакция “Новой газеты”https://t.co/ppsun7SMGy

— Новая Газета (@novaya_gazeta) March 28, 2022

The censorship exercised by Roskomnadzor, the Russian Internet policeman, does not stop there.

Foreign media sites, such as the BBC, Deutsche Welle or Bellingcat were also made inaccessible.

For its part, RFI's Russian site is, as of April 1, 2022, still available in Russia.

Another consequence, many foreign media recalled their correspondent present on Russian soil.

With this exhaustion of the media offer, only the official word still circulates in the public space.

Blocked social media... 

It is also difficult for Russians to get information through social networks since they are also targeted.

Facebook and Instagram were banned nationwide on March 21

.

Twitter is also unavailable.

Russians must therefore make do with the in-house social network Vkontakte, and its Chinese competitors Ok and Wechat, or Telegram and WhatsApp.

TikTok works, but the Chinese giant has chosen to make foreign content inaccessible and to restrict the publication of videos.

YouTube is still available in Russia, but the online video platform is in Roskomnadzor's sights.

As a result, audiences for its Russian counterpart RuTube are on the rise

Or saturated with propaganda

The remaining space is used for Kremlin disinformation.

On TikTok, for example,

shows that only Russian propaganda accounts can still post content.

A Vice investigation also reveals that influencers are paid to broadcast pro-Kremlin messages, on TikTok and Vkontakte in particular.

In their video, they repeatedly repeat the same script and use the same hashtags.

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by Photographer Lisbon (@magonovaa_)

Vladimir Putin's strategy consists on the one hand of exhausting the information supply, and on the other of saturating the propaganda networks.

The Russians therefore find themselves disconnected from what is really happening in Ukraine.

Why this propaganda?

Vladimir Putin thus seeks to silence any potential dispute.

Ahead of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, he first sought to impose his story of justification for going to war by working in particular to reverse the roles, passing off the attacked as the 'aggressor.

Now that the war is settling in for a long time, he is busy hiding the reality of what is happening on the ground in Ukraine, in particular by minimizing the losses within his army.

The purpose of this massive disinformation is also to blame the hardships endured by its people on Ukraine and the West.

Bypass censorship

The Internet and digital now make it possible to slip through the meshes of this blocking of social networks and foreign media.

Many Russians use VPNs, virtual private networks, on their phones and computers to circumvent this censorship.

These services, often chargeable, allow the user to locate his Internet connection in another country, and thus avoid geographical restrictions. 

App Store ranking and war in Ukraine:

On the left (Russia): we are fleeing censorship

On the right (France): we are looking for gasoline at a good price pic.twitter.com/Rfncfvhr5T

— Raphael Grably (@GrablyR) March 10, 2022 Some VPNs thus appeared in the top 10 most downloaded apps in Russia.

It is also possible to go through the

, a hidden part of the internet, to access content that the Kremlin cannot control.

Russian censorship is therefore not totally infallible, but it does require technical knowledge and substantial efforts for a population already subject to numerous restrictions. 

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