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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
BREAKING THROUGH RUSSIA'S DIGITAL ELECTRONIC WALL A
s Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Maria, a 37-year-old mother in western Russia, didn't hesitate to set up a virtual private network, or VPN, to circumvent the blockade she saw coming across the country's Internet. "I read about the conflict with anger, sadness, and empathy," Maria says about the conflict. It was a good instinct. The VPN became invaluable once the Kremlin blocked Western news websites and social networks. Every 10 to 20 minutes, she refreshed news about the war on Facebook and Instagram, communicating with a friend in the United States. Maria says, however, her mother believes what she sees on Russian state TV, which portrays the invasion as a righteous military operation to liberate Ukraine from the Nazis. Maria vowed to stop discussing the war with her mother after a fight left her in tears. Some Russians with ties to the United States and Western Europe are attempting
March 2022 | Volume 20
to burst Russian President Vladimir Putin's propaganda bubble, alienating their own families, friends, and co-workers. War in Ukraine deepens the rift between young, tech-savvy people and an older generation that gets its news mostly from TV and was raised on Putin's vision of the country.
networks, such as Telegram and VK, which many pro-government organizations use. Interviews with a half-dozen people in Russia revealed the ideological divide. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid violating the country's fake news law.
According to World Bank statistics, in the United States, almost 85% of people are online. However, only a small number of those individuals use American social networking sites. Researchers at eMarketer found that in 2022, about half of Russian Internet users use Instagram, while only a fraction use Facebook and Twitter.
Mikhail Shevelev, a Moscow-based journalist, describes the "very serious" and "drastic" divide between those who get their news from independent online sources and those who primarily rely on television. He said it is very difficult for anyone - even Russians who do not reside in Russia - to comprehend the sheer magnitude of absolutely illogical perceptions of information and outright lies.
Many Russians use digital tools to circumvent Russian censorship. People search online for independent news about the war, separating themselves from government propaganda that floods television, government-backed websites, and large sections of public social
Putin is also using increasingly sophisticated censorship measures. Russians over 50 make up the majority of viewers of state television news, which is flooded with reports about U.S. biowarfare laboratories and Ukrainian "Nazis." Apart from the recent restrictions
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