Atlantico: As Russian forces continue their invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is waging a real digital war in Russia. The Russian media sphere, which was already tightly controlled by the state before the invasion of Ukraine, has shrunk further. How important is censorship and the "digital iron curtain" affecting Russian and Western media? How does Putin present such censorship to the Russian population?
Carole Grimaud Potter: The digital censorship that is practiced today in Russia is the repressive side of the older project of “digital sovereignty” as described by V. Putin in numerous speeches and programs. This digital sovereignty aims to isolate the Russian Internet on the one hand, and this is the explanation given to the population, to "defend" it from interference and external influences or from the supposed risks of a cut in the Russian Internet to the global network by the Americans and on the other hand, to increase the possibilities and the digital technological offers of Russia. If indeed, the power has dreamed of a digital wall as is the case of China, the project is very difficult to achieve. The backbone of the Russian Internet is built on the Western model and total control of cyber space is impossible.
Media censorship is also part of a desire to regain control of information, always considered a threat by the Russian, Soviet or Tsarist authorities, even more so in times of war. The famous “foreign agent” law which obliges the media to include the mention in any publication, a notch had been crossed recently.
These Russian influencers that Putin would pay much more than his teachersIn both cases, digital censorship and media censorship, the war in Ukraine will have enabled the government to go even further in regaining control of information and therefore of technologies.
As for the Western media being banned from the country, in retaliation for the shutdown of Russian media in the West, this is an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth policy that we are rather accustomed to.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, many major Western media outlets were thus driven out of the country and millions of Russians no longer have access to major social media platforms. Are international news organizations trying to exploit the loopholes of this censorship? What means do they have at their disposal to continue broadcasting their content on Russian soil?
The Russians no longer have access to certain American platforms, so they are turning to Russian platforms, of which there are many. WhatsApp still continues to work but until when? These Russian platforms are not only reserved for Russia, no doubt there will be an influx of Western Internet users who will join them. The cards will be redistributed.
The classic VPN access can be used to thwart censorship. Telegram messaging is still "almost" free and some American media have set up their "editorial departments" there for lack of journalists in the country. The BBC site before being blocked by the Kremlin gave advice to its readers regarding VPNs. "Mirror sites" can also be used or just radio, as in the days of the Cold War, when in the kitchens, it is said, the fall of the USSR was preparing.
Is Russia the fortress behind its president that Vladimir Putin thinks?On the other hand, Vladimir Putin makes sure to convey his propaganda by all possible means: state television remains the main source of information for 62% of Russians, according to a study carried out in 2021 by the Levada Center of Moscow. How much Western information reaches Russians despite the Iron Curtain? And to whom?
Those who are most affected by media censorship are especially young people, because they mainly find information on the internet and sometimes also on state television, but much less than their elders. And it is this population that the power is targeting, which it suspects of being influenced by Western ideas which divert it from traditional values. This is also enshrined in Russia's new security doctrine. But as I mentioned above, the Russian digital wall does not exist. Some Western sites and media may be censored but how do you censor the entire global internet? There can never be an agent behind every Russian Internet user. I think that more than the information taken from a Western site, it is the social networks that represent the greatest danger for power. Because we now know that large crowd movements, protests are being prepared on social networks, a proliferation of ideas and opinions from which protest movements can arise. This is the great fear of the regime. Isolating individuals, preventing them from communicating with each other on a large scale, no matter what they thought, was one of the rules of Soviet society imposed by the authorities. Also, even if Facebook or Instagram are banned today, control is still exerted on Russian social networks. And the power is delighted to see a large number of Russian Internet users flocking to the networks produced by Russian technology.
Ukraine: in the information war, the West knew how to employ unusual strategies and occupy the groundTo what extent does the Western media have an interest in continuing to find ways to circumvent the censorship put in place by Vladimir Putin? What is at stake for the Western world?
The Western idea of a free and borderless Internet, as idealized by its pioneers, is not only an idea but a value deeply rooted within our cultures. Access to information, press rights and the safety of journalists in the exercise of their profession is another. Today technologies offer ever greater possibilities to circumvent censorship and promote these values. Western media will continue to defend what they consider to be a universal right.
Digital iron curtain: this crucial information war that Putin is winning despite the performance of Zelensky
