Freedom House, a US-based NGO monitoring the progress or restriction of human freedoms as it perceives them around the globe, has published its most recent Freedom on the Net 2016 report, the sixth in its series.
In its findings, the NGO assigns Russia the “not free” status, while the country was considered to be “partly free” and “relatively uncensored” just a few years ago. Russia now scores 65, compared to 62 one year ago and 52 four years ago. The scale runs from 0, or complete freedom, to 100, or total government oppression.
In particular, the NGO notes the following developments on the Russian Internet scene from mid 2015 to mid 2016:
- Russia saw “a dramatic hike in arrests of social media users, with the first maximum five-year sentence issued for so-called extremist expression online;”
- Social media users were exposed to “an unprecedented number of attacks,” with members of political groups on Vkontakte, the leading local social network, “targeted with physical violence and suffering property damage;”
- The new “antiterrorist” legislation adopted in summer 2016 has “undermined the security of encrypted communications and increased authorities’ access to user data;”
- Another new law, which requires organizations operating in Russia to store Russian users’ or clients’ personal data on servers physically located in the country, “may make it easier for the Russian government to access internet users’ information.”
“The authorities have demonstrated a low tolerance for critical expression, readily blocking content critical of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and involvement in the conflict in the Donbass region of Ukraine,” Freedom House also notes.
“Anti-extremism” legislation is used as a pretext to restrain access or “block political content, often without judicial oversight,” while independent online news outlets, facing legal and economic pressure from the authorities, “are often forced to take down politically sensitive content.”
On their side, sites and social media groups run by the political opposition and by LGBT groups are “routinely censored,” reports the NGO.
Russia’s “Freedom on the Net” scores, 2011-2016
Internet freedom across the globe in 2016
Source: Freedom House. Click here to download the full report, or here to read the Russia section.
