Police arrest anti-war protesters in St. Petersburg, Russia, February 27, 2022 (Photo by Valya Egorshin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
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But this law is better seen as yet another attempt by Russia’s authoritarian leader to prevent his citizens having access to information he doesn’t want them seeing. Putin has already imposed restrictions on independent media, blocking access to the websites of outlets like the investigative website Medusa. The radio station Ekho Moskvy was also forced off the air. On Thursday evening, Russia’s final independent broadcaster, Dozhd TV, was forced to shut down.Putin has also blocked access to Facebook and Twitter in the country in order to prevent citizens from seeing what’s really happening in Ukraine.Initially, Russian journalists bravely fought back against their government’s latest crackdowns, but as the war in Ukraine has intensified, so too has Putin’s crackdown on information inside Russia, and the new “fake” news law will simply add to that censorship.Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.