Those who have taken an interest in the words of Dmitry Peskov since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will have noticed that Vladimir Putin’s press secretary is loyal, if nothing else.
In respect of his commentary on matters important to the Kremlin, it can be difficult for foreigners to appreciate the finer details; is he always trying to mislead or just most of the time?
Take for example a statement early February 2024, just a few weeks before new law came into effect that tightened the noose further still on the use of VPNs in Russia.
These measures included a ban on advertising VPNs as a means to circumvent government blocking, which prevents access to other information currently blocked in Russia. Indeed, providing information on how to access blocked information using a VPN is now a criminal offense, with the unblocking information also subject to blocking.
Peskov said this didn’t mean that VPNs were banned in Russia, and he offered reassurances that no decision like that had even been made.
On one hand, that statement was truthful. On the other, Russia’s evisceration of VPNs since 2017 means that when Peskov referred to VPNs, he wasn’t even on the same page as many people listening. As the law stands, there can be no expectation of privacy when using a state approved VPN, i.e the only ones allowed under law.
Censorship now applies to any mention of VPN unblocking capabilities and should those be discussed online and end up in search results, that information will be purged under the orders of telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor.
“YouTube Violates Key Principles of Free Dissemination of Information”
This week Roscomnadzor informed news outlets including Interfax, TASS and RIA Novosti, that it had contacted Google CEO Sundar Pichai with complaints about YouTube. The regulator said that over 200 channels, operated by Russian media, various government agencies, politicians, and media personalities, are currently blocked by YouTube for supporting Russian authorities.
Roscomnadzor said that it demanded action from Pichai to reverse what it described as “an act of censorship” carried out by YouTube under a “Russophobic” policy.
“The victims are not only those who voice their position on various political issues, but also people who generally speak well of Russia,” Roscomnadzor said, inadvertently amusingly.
Rules For Thee, But Not For Me
In the very same press statement criticizing YouTube for failing to provide unimpeded access to information, Roscomnadzor saw no hypocrisy in calling out YouTube again, this time for not censoring content at Russia’s behest. The content at issue, over 61,000 videos containing “fakes about a special military operation,” extremist material, and “promotion of non-traditional sexual preferences.”
What these categories all have in common is obfuscation as a means to change and expand definition. The term “special military operation” was crafted to reassure Russians that there was no ‘invasion’ and certainly no ‘war’ in Ukraine. A new crime of ‘discrediting’ the military, which encompasses spreading ‘fake’ information, made the use of the words ‘invasion’ and ‘war’ in the context of Ukraine, punishable by years in prison.
‘Extremist material’ is a little like the shifting definition of VPN in Russia. It started out describing material promoting extremist ideology and then when it suited Russia, it meant something else. When Facebook, Instagram, and Meta were designated as extremist groups in 2022, the term could encompass almost anything. Promotion of non-traditional sexual preferences refers to anything that deviates from the Victorian standard of a man and a woman, period. Or at least it does today, the terminology seems broad enough to intrude even on that.
Erasing the Existence of VPNs From Search Results
As more overt wars of words attract attention, Roscomnadzor’s war on VPNs not only continues, but does so with significant assistance from Google. The company says it has no choice but to comply due to Russian law and Roscomnadzor certainly isn’t holding back.
Russia’s campaign against VPNs and similar technology gathered pace in 2017 and hasn’t let off the gas since. In addition to targeting Tor, a massive search engine delisting campaign is ongoing.
What began with takedown notices ordering Google to remove a few dozen links per month, soon escalated into orders to remove a few thousand, then tens of thousands. The invasion of Ukraine saw thousands of links crammed into single notices but nothing like the delisting campaign currently underway.
A typical notice sent by Roscomnadzor to Google is shown below. This is just one of 18 notices sent to Google in June 2024 and orders the removal of a staggering 460,750 URLs from Google search, for being related in some way to VPNs.
The exact nature of the URLs removed is not for public consumption. On top of the requirement to disappear the links, Google is compelled to deviate from its transparency policy due to restrictions under Russian law.
What we can see are the numbers involved. In just 18 takedown notices sent to Google, Roscomnadzor demanded the removal of more than 5.6 million URLs, in June alone.
Given the surge in volumes, these removals represent more than just links to VPN providers. Tutorials and discussion about VPNs have become a priority target and are likely to feature heavily here.
As a result, it’s difficult not to conclude that this represents classic censorship and the denial of the right to freely receive and impart, knowledge and information. Russia knows that, and it knows that everyone knows that it knows. It just doesn’t care.
Links to the takedown notices, courtesy of the Lumen Database, are available below
#01 June 03, 2024 – 413,348
#02 June 03, 2024 – 58,987
#03 June 04, 2024 – 39,353
#04 June 04, 2024 – 442,913
#05 June 04, 2024 – 478,474
#06 June 05, 2024 – 444,220
#07 June 06, 2024 – 37,914
#08 June 06, 2024 – 450,920
#09 June 07, 2024 – 456,006
#10 June 10, 2024 – 437,887
#11 June 10, 2024 – 38,646
#12 June 11, 2024 – 437,957
#13 June 13, 2024 – 431,769
#14 June 13, 2024 – 77,607
#15 June 14, 2024 – 445,285
#16 June 14, 2024 – 49,424
#17 June 16, 2024 – 447,292
#18 June 17, 2024 – 460,750
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