The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on 19 July that the Russian government is considering new measures to tighten control over social media platforms in the country.
According to a 19 July report by Russian state news agency TASS, lawmakers are discussing legislation requiring social media accounts with over 10,000 subscribers to provide personal identification data to Roskomnadzor, the federal censorship agency.
The proposed law would block non-compliant channels, potentially silencing critical voices on Russian social media. This follows a statement from Roskomnadzor on 11 July suggesting that accounts with a daily audience exceeding 1,000 people may need to provide identifying information.
According to the ISW, these moves as “part of wider Kremlin efforts to root out critical voices and consolidate control over the Russian information space.” The think tank suggests that previous measures aimed to deter critical voices through economic pressure may have been deemed insufficient.
The report also notes a potentially related development on Telegram, a popular messaging platform. Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced on 19 July that the app would begin displaying the month and country of channel registration, ostensibly to combat scammers.
ISW points out that this move is “notable as he has regularly advertised Telegram as a privacy-oriented, independent, and censored platform since its founding in 2013.”
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