Recently, a statement by Russia's communications regulator plans to stop the access of Facebook to its millions of citizens. The statement was released stating, " In March 2022, a decision was made to block access to the Facebook network in the Russian Federation." According to Statista, there are around 66 million users in Russia. This ban comes from Russia claiming that the social media giant is "unfairly censoring media outlets within the country" (Forbes). This ban will cost Meta around 1.3 billion for the year while Meta's total revenue in 2021 was 117.9 billion. (Forbes) While this will certainly hurt Meta, the company likely has been following the trend of many other businesses to drop out of Russia like Apple, Disney, Ikea, Shell, Exxon, and many more. This comes with a world-wide outrage over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and companies are trying to distance themselves from Russia. While Facebook didn't exactly leave on their own, it comes from them shutting down Russian news platforms and trying to stop the misinformation about the war. Practically all of Russia's news platforms are all state-affiliated meaning they are working with the government and letting the government have almost total control over what is being said or published. By banning Facebook in Russia, the Russian government will practically have total control over its media with what people can see or hear. The ban seems rather ironic considering how such a huge problem Facebook has with monitoring misinformation and propaganda on its site especially in the US. The Washington Posts's Will Oremus had some interesting thoughts on the current situation, "Blocking Facebook, then, is less of a broadside against social media in Russia than it is a shot across the bow — a dramatic but largely symbolic act that serves as a warning and a threat. Because Facebook is so prominent in the West, the block stands to make big headlines outside Russia while provoking relatively little outcry from within. And now the censorship agency can point to its hard line against Facebook in its ongoing disputes with both Meta and other social media companies that have larger Russian user bases." Russia wants on taking more control over social media by scaring the big tech companies into listening to their demands and eventually be able to censor whatever the government what to get rid of or promote to their people.
Would it be better for big tech companies to simply leave Russia than to bend to Russia's likely new regulations?
With Russia already controlling most of its people's media will they be able to get reliable information?
Are sanctions across the world and companies leaving Russia enough pressure for them to stop the war? If not, what else should be done that does not escalate to war to involve NATO or the US.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/04/tech/russia-blocks-facebook/index.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2022/03/04/facebooks-russia-ban-will-cost-it-about-36-million-a-day/?sh=32c88e5a15d4
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/05/russia-facebook-block-putin-ban-roskomnadzor/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-corporations-that-have-pulled-out/
2 comments:
If the social media companies can continue flagging misinformation and Russian-state propaganda, they should continue to provide for Russian citizens. So, I suppose they can bend to Russia's new regulations if that doesn't involve pretending that misinformation is true information. Having a platform to be connected to the rest of the world is really important for Russian citizens. Even if they can't upload their own content, as is the case on TikTok, it's valuable for them to see messages of support, news, and other information from foreign countries.
Although still possible, I think it is getting more and more difficult for Russian citizens to access reliable information. The most used social media platform by Russians is YouTube (owned by Google), which happens to also be the most compliant with Russia's censorship requests. According to Thomas Brewster from Forbes, "In the first six months of 2021, Google received nearly 19,000 requests from Kremlin agencies for removal of content. It complied in nearly 75% of cases." So, it seems that the apps most likely to stick around are the most friendly to Russian censors. Many censored YouTube videos have nothing to do with the conflict, but Ukrainian protest media has been censored in the past. The point is, this is spiraling dangerously close to China-like restrictions.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2022/03/04/google-has-been-russia-most-compliant-us-tech-censor-will-that-change-with-ukraine/?sh=2a8c4fe99bb0
I agree with Nicky that social media companies should attempt to provide credible information for Russian citizens so that they can remain connected to the rest of the world and see something other than Russian propaganda. However, with the new regulations, I don't know how possible this goal will be. Like Nicky said, it's getting increasingly difficult for Russian citizens to access accurate information about the war in Ukraine. It's really scary to see how easily Putin has been able to block the flow of news, even with the internet.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/technology/disinformation-russia-ukraine.html
^ This article illustrates some of the false narratives that Putin is pushing out, including news posts with claims like that a photographed wounded Ukrainian woman was using fake blood or makeup and that she was a member of the Ukrainian psychological operations unit.
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