Susan Wojcicki, chief executive officer at Google’s YouTube, said the internet giant still holds free speech as a “core value,” in the company’s first public comments since it acceded to a Russian government order to remove material from political opponents. Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Apple Inc. pulled a voting app from opposition leader Alexey Navalny ahead of …
YouTube CEO responds to Russia censorship accusations Read More
This past Wednesday Roskomnadzor, Russia’s telecom and Internet regulator, announced the launch of a registry of major domestic and foreign social networks. The regulator cites amendments to the Russian legislation on information and information technologies which came in force on Feb. 1, 2021. Establishing the “self-control” of social networks, these new rules mandate them to …
Russia mandates social networks to “self-control” unlawful content Read More
On Sept. 17 Apple and Google disabled Russian users’ access to the pro-opposition ‘Smart Voting’ app in their online stores. Just hours later Telegram, the international instant messenger whose creator Pavel Durov touts its full independence, dealt a new blow to ‘Smart Voting’ by suspending — in a selective and controversial way — bots associated with …
How Russia forced Apple and Google to block anti-Kremlin app on parliamentary election day Read More
The US Treasury Department has for the first time sanctioned cryptocurrency exchange, a Russian-based Suex that is registered in the Moscow City business compound and operates physical as well as virtual exchanges. Suex is allegedly responsible for over $480 million of unlawful operations, has been used for ransomware attacks and operated transfers to and from Finiko crypto ponzi scheme and Russia’s …
US sanctions Russia-based cryptocurrency exchange over ransomware Read More
A new law regulating the activity of foreign digital companies in Russia, adopted in early July, is already coming into force, as witnessed by several new orders issued last week by Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom regulator. Owners of websites, information systems, or electronic programs that generate a daily traffic of 500,000 users from Russia or more are required to open a …
Russia tightens control over foreign large-traffic sites and apps Read More
In the run-up to Russia’s parliamentary elections on Sept. 17-18-19, the Kremlin’s battle against online dissent brings new developments almost daily. Tech giants are not spared, with Google at the forefront earlier this week. Court marshals visited the company’s Moscow office to enforce an injunctive measure to remove the opposition-minded ‘Smart Voting’ site from search results. This …
Court marshals visit Google’s Moscow office to enforce censorship decision Read More
Russian electric car drivers will be able to access toll roads at no cost starting from 2022 in a new trial experiment, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing a recently published draft government plan. The initiative, part of the new Development Concept for the Production and Use of Electric Automobile Transport signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on …
Russia to grant toll-free status to electric cars from 2022 Read More
The man accused of killing a Russian meat magnate in his sauna with a crossbow has been caught after escaping from jail, investigators said Tuesday. Alexander Mavridi, who escaped from a pre-trial detention center in the Moscow region last month, was detained in the capital Tuesday after he was detected by the city’s facial-recognition surveillance cameras, the state-run TASS …
Escaped killer of Russian meat magnate caught via facial recognition Read More
In the run-up to Russia’s Sept. 17-19 parliamentary elections, as the authorities have been purging the field of almost all genuine opposition politicians, the battle against dissent is also raging online. In recent weeks, among other measures, the authorities barred dozens of websites linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, including his main website navalny.com. They had Yandex …
Russian tech firm Yandex said on Tuesday it had removed jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s tactical voting website from its search engine to comply with a government ban ahead of a parliamentary election this month. Navalny and his allies want to use the website and a separate app, dubbed ‘Smart Voting,’ to organise a tactical …
Russian search engine delists Navalny’s tactical voting site after ban Read More
Russia said Thursday that Google and Apple’s refusal to remove jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s app ahead of elections could be seen as interference in the country’s domestic affairs. The country is holding parliamentary elections later this month, with nearly all vocal Kremlin critics including Navalny’s allies barred from running. Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom …
Russia accuses Apple, Google of election interference Read More
In the latest move of a long saga, a Moscow court fined yesterday three US digital companies for violating the country’s personal data storage legislation. Facebook and Twitter were fined 15 million rubles (some $200,000 at the current exchange rate) and 17 million rubles ($230,000), respectively, for repeat infractions, while WhatsApp will have to pay 4 million …
