Russia to increase spending on Internet censorship

Russia’s internet watchdog Roskomnadzor could spend up to 60 billion Russian rubles (approx 650 million dollars) on upgrading the system that provides more sophisticated blocking of any content the watchdog considers a “threat”, the news website Forbes reports citing the state project “Cybersecurity Infrastructure”.

According to the project description, the money will be used to purchase new equipment and develop new software. According to the watchdog, the measures are needed due to the “increased online traffic”.

Meanwhile, the technical expert of Roskomsvoboda - a Russian NGO that supports the protection of digital rights of internet users - told Forbes that the upgrade plans are aimed at allowing more effective blockage and slowing down of the “unwanted” content.

Lawyer Stanislav Selesyev, who cooperates with a project “Online freedoms” («Сетевые Свободы»), explains that the technical upgrade is needed because the Russian watchdog experiences difficulties blocking modern VPN, which has become immensely popular among Russian users amid increasing censorship.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Roskomnadzor watchdog blocked multiple foreign social media and news websites thus limiting access to independent information for Russian users.

For example, Facebook and Instagram were blocked in Russia under the “extremism” law: “The activities of the Meta organization are directed against Russia and its armed forces,” Russian Security Service (FSB) representative Igor Kovalevsky is quoted by the Guardian as saying.

Access to news websites such as BBC Russian Service, the Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle have been blocked in Russia after the invasion as well, Reuters reported earlier. 

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Users in Russia are worried that the video-hosting platform YouTube is next in the line. Recently, there have been multiple reports when users couldn’t temporarily access the video platform in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other big cities. The regular slowdown of YouTube many users see as a testing ground for it to be blocked in the future.

“They (Russian authorities) want to stop people from watching the independent political analyses online, which is immensely popular among Russian audiences now,” the YouTube user Maxim from Moscow told The Barents Observer earlier.

Amid the tight state censorship both online and on state TV, the social media platform Telegram remains currently one of the most popular sources of information and communication for Russian users.

In 2023 the audience of Telegram in Russia has reached more than 85 million users, which is 10% more than in 2022, Forbes reported.

US sanctions after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine have also impacted the access to different online services for Russian users. Such companies as Google had to limit their operations for Russian users, Intellinews reports.