Kislovskaya A., Valtsova E., Ressin G.
Homework
The task: “Find examples of online censorship and explain why they happen, who
the actors and interested parties are”.
The term “Internet censorship” is used to describe the control and regulation of the
content of Internet resources, mainly by authorities and private corporations (domain
name registrars, hosting providers, owners and administrators of Internet resources,
etc.), preventing the viewing of certain information. Not only sites but news feeds,
chats and in some cases search queries fall under the process of filtering of content.
Let's take the example of online censorship. “The Golden Shield Project” is one of the
most advanced systems of control over the national segment of the network in China.
This Internet content filtering system was created under the control of the government
and is used for reporting offenses, user identification, content control, information
monitoring and traffic management. The Golden Shield Project is responsible for
politically objectionable content, which is why it is entrusted to get rid of images that
are unpleasant to the state in the chat rooms and news feeds. At the same time
uniform filtering standards are not used, everything depends on the presence of
various events: government holidays, political events, during which some publications
are removed from the online environment. Sometimes the standard of filtration
depends on public outcry. One such story is the failed double attempt to remove
content related to homosexuality on the Sina Weibo - microblogging service, which is
a Chinese hybrid of Twitter and Facebook. Thanks to public pressure - a flurry of
protest posts, accompanied by the hashtags #iamgay and #ibreakthelaw on April 13,
2018, Weibo leadership lifted the restriction on gay posts. Based on the story of gay
content on Weibo, the actors and the interested parties are the government of China,
private enterprises and individuals renting bandwidth from the state, representatives
of The Golden Shield Project, and the users of the Internet and Weibo. In this case in
order not to lose tens and millions of users on the service, who spend their time and
money on using the Internet and Weibo, the state and the structures that regulate the
availability of content had to make concessions and allow the topic of homosexuality.
The first example, Roskomnadzor send notifications demanding to restrict access to
"inaccurate information" to 10 media outlets - Ekho Moskvy, InoSMI, Mediazona, The
New Times, Dozhd, Svobodnaya Pressa, Krym.Realii, " Novaya Gazeta, Journalist,
Lenizdat.
Roskomnadzor believes that these publications published “inaccurate, socially
significant information that does not correspond to reality” about the shelling of
Ukrainian cities by Russian troops and the death of civilians in Ukraine, as well as
“materials in which the ongoing operation is called an attack, an invasion, or a
declaration of war.”
If these publications are not removed, Roskomnadzor threatens to block publications.
In addition, they can be fined up to five million rubles.
According to Roskomnadzor, it is “Russian official information sources” that
disseminate reliable information about the war with Ukraine.
Yesterday Roskomnadzor restricted access to the Village news website.
The Prosecutor General's Office` main claim was that "The Village" has been regularly
and systematically spreading false information regarding the actions of the Russian
military in Ukraine.
Basically, The Village is now in the same boat with “Echo of Moscow”, TV Rain,
MediaZona, etc.
Again, the main spectrum of claims is that these editorial offices violate the law, by
spreading “information known to be false regarding the actions of Russian servicemen,
as part of a special operation to protect the Donetsk People’s Republic and the
Luhansk People’s Republic”.
References:
1. Gurzhiy D.(2015). Internet censorship. Young scientist, 12 (92), 988-991.
URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/92/20439/
2. URL: NEWSru.com :: Китайская соцсеть Sina Weibo разрешила "гейконтент" после массовых протестов пользователей
3. URL: jpost.com :: 'Echo of Moscow' Russian liberal radio station taken off the
air