Russia's 2024 presidential election is scheduled for this weekend, with dictator Vladimir Putin's path to a fifth term as president all but certain. Thanks to constitutional reforms pushed by Putin himself, he will now be eligible to run for two more six-year terms, guaranteeing his status as ruler for life.
These Potemkin elections, held just a month after the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny – almost certainly on Putin's orders – demonstrate the rotten core of Putin's dictatorship. There is. But rather than wallow in pessimism about Russia's bleak future, it is hoped that pro-democracy voices in Russia and abroad will use this election as a springboard for new strategies to counter Putin's authoritarianism, especially online. Should.
One of the main ways the Kremlin has exercised control at home and influence abroad is by severely restricting access to independent media and investing heavily in online propaganda. More than 15,000 websites have been blocked in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began. The Kremlin controls virtually all internet platforms in Russia, including social media networks such as VKontakte and search engine Yandex. Any content that deviates even slightly from his party's line will be removed immediately.
Over the past decade, Russia has experienced the worst crackdown on opposition since the Soviet Union. More than 900 individuals, media outlets, and activist groups have been designated as “undesirables” or “foreign agents,” and nearly 20,000 citizens have been detained for online or in-person antiwar activities. Ukraine in 2022. Laws adopted after the invasion criminalize the sharing of certain types of information about the war, including even referring to the conflict as a “war” or “invasion,” and impose stiff penalties for violators.
Although the regime has invested heavily in controlling the Internet, access to major global platforms such as Google, YouTube, and Meta remain popular and can provide important sources of uncensored information. There is sex. However, over the past two years, independent media and democratic activists have seen their traffic and social media participation inexplicably plummet. They have also lost access to critical Western software, tools, and equipment.
The obvious reason is that Kremlin officials manipulated the algorithms of search engines such as Google to deprioritize independent Russian websites within Google and amplify Kremlin propaganda. Russian internet services such as Yandex are effectively state-owned and can generate artificial traffic to the content you want Google's algorithms to promote. States also have legal tools to block independent media by downgrading these resources in search algorithms.
To be clear, none of this was done with the active cooperation of Big Tech companies. However, independent organizations and voices in Russia have not been able to get clear answers from these Western companies about what is happening and how to correct it. To be sure, the manipulation of online tools and platforms by authoritarian regimes like Putin's is a complex issue. However, by adopting policies that seek to remain politically neutral in such environments, these companies inadvertently contribute to existing power imbalances between pro-democracy actors and authoritarian governments. It may be strengthened.
If the United States and other democracies want to support Russia's struggling democracy movement, it is important to build a constructive dialogue between activists and Big Tech on these issues. Establishing a dialogue and building lines of communication to discuss and understand mutual limits should begin immediately with Congressional leaders and officials within the Biden administration, given that no mechanisms currently exist to facilitate such discussions. This will be an important first step.
The platforms and services provided by Big Tech play a critical role in helping independent media and citizen activists connect with citizens who want facts, not propaganda. As the Russian Federation holds another regular election and the world still mourns the death of opposition hero Navalny, the United States and other democracies are working with tech giants to support Russia's freedom fighters. We must take new approaches to support.
Patrick Quirk is Deputy Director of Strategy, Innovation, and Impact at the International Republican Institute and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and its Center for Freedom and Prosperity.
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