The Ministry of Dangerous Internet

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Previously, in Russia they planted for reposts. Then for comments, then for likes. In 2023, affairs appeared on blogger_k for tax evasion. DOXA recalls how the scale of state intervention in the online space has grown since the beginning of the 2010s. Why did the authorities move from direct censorship to the investigation of economic crimes and how does it help to turn blogiro_k into officials?

• Author

  

  Author

  Nikita Ryazan

• Illustrator

  Illustrator

  Vitya Ershov

• Publication

  August 16, 2023

How to take the Internet under control? Simple ways do not work

The easiest way to control something is to take possession of it. In the early 2000s, the Russian authorities took television channels, radio stations and print media from disloyal oligarchs. They were transferred either to trusted businessmen or state -owned companies. But it is impossible to take possession of the Internet. Firstly, most of the market are foreign companies: they own search engines, news aggregators, social networks. Secondly, the state does not have tools for monitoring the creation of new sites and services. The government distributes frequencies for television and radio, issues licenses for print media, but the state does not have a monopoly on issuing permits on the Internet.

In the early 2010s, among the five most popular social networks there were no players who openly collaborated with the authorities. VKontakte then still belonged to Pavel Durov. Alisher Usmanova, “Mail.ru Group”, only became a key shareholder of “Odnoklassniki”, but neither “Odnoklassniki” nor the third most popular “My World”, also belonging to “Mael”, were not seen in direct censorship or disclosure of data. In the fourth and fifth places were Facebook and Twitter.

Therefore, two directions were issued in the Russian Internet policy. On the one hand, the state created tools for pressure on Internet users. On the other hand, cooperation offered them: money, popularity, safety.

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Step One: Super-fitting. List of prohibited sites

In 2012, the Law “On Protection of Children from Prohibited Information” entered into force in Russia. It was accepted in 2010, when mass protests had not yet begun, and the foreign policy atmosphere seemed favorable. Control over the Internet is not an act of frightened power, but a planned policy.

The law was criticized for vague formulations. For example, information was declared forbidden, “denying family values ​​and forming disrespect for parents and (or) other family members,” while “family values” remained without definition. But the main innovation was the right of Roskomnadzor (RKN) to block Internet resources-this is how the register of prohibited sites appeared. In the first two months after the entry of the law, Roskomnadzor blocked 1.2 thousand pages. Which ones, RKN did not report: the head of the department, Alexander Zharov, explained that he was not going to advertise harmful content.

At the end of 2013, the State Duma adopted the so -called " Lugovoi Law Andrei Lugovoi is a deputy of the State Duma from the LDPR, one of the co -authors of the law. He was suspected by the British authorities of the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. Russia refused to issue meadow UK, he himself denied the charges. ". He allowed the Prosecutor General to block opposition Internet resources without a court decision. The first victims were the blogs of Alexei Navalny in the Live Journal and on Echo of Moscow, as well as the publication Kasparov.ru Media project Harry Kasparov, Russian chess player and opposition, who emigrated in 2013. "And" Grani.ru One of the first opposition Internet media. Created by oligarch Boris Berezovsky in 2000. ". The media were accused of calling for the riots, and Navalny - in the fact that, using the Internet, he violates the court decision on house arrest. The Living Journal received threats from the RKN, which will be completely blocked if it does not remove the Golden Blog.

The register of prohibited sites has become a tool for direct political censorship, as well as squeezing people from the media field. With the help of the registry, the authorities still draw the boundaries between the permitted Internet, which supports and develops, and forbidden - it is not destroyed, but they do the work in it heavy and incomprehensible. Now access to one of the first and main weapons of power on the Internet has not only Roskomnadzor, but also twenty departments Personal Supervision Service, SK, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office, Rosalcoregulation, Bailiff Service, Rosmolodezh, Roszdravnadzor, Rosgvardiya, FSB, EMERCOM, Ministry of Defense, SVR, FSIN, FSO, CEC, CEC, Moscow City Court, Courts of other levels, including the Russian Federation, Mosgorsud And the Rosmolodezh.

Step two: hacking system. Recruitment of agents

In the early 2010s, the recruitment of prosperous agents also began. But the state rarely built “its own” on the Internet from scratch - more often made existing authors of content closer to power.

The first fruit of such a policy is the YouTube channel “Thank you, Eve”, which was supervised by Rosmolodezh, in particular Kristina Podment, then a press secretary of this organization. Many famous bloggers worked in “Thank you, Eve”: Danila Perectic, Ilya Prusikin, Ruslan Usachev. The channel produced entertainment content, carefully including state narratives and symbols in rollers. For example, after the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and renaming the police to the police, the project shot a series about good and smart investigators.

“Thank you, Eve” was one of the first projects in Russian YouTube, where bloggers received real money. The state combined bribery and rather low requirements for politicism. It did not turn new agents into regular propagandists, but was looking for a thin line between entertainment content and ideologized messages. This is a technology worked out on television - it is not surprising that since 2023, Ruslan Usachev has been withdrawing a show for STS.

Step Three: We increase the risks on the Internet for everyone. The end of anonymity

Another trend of Internet regulation in Russia is attempts to transfer all the laws that act in the real to the network space. Therefore, the authorities are fighting with one of the main differences between online and offline media- the anonymity of the user_nits.

In 2015, the state introduced a new system of technical means to ensure the functions of operational-search measures -SORM-3. This is a database of each user, which includes information about the location, payments and other financial transactions User_nitsa, as well as the list and even the content of the visited pages. SORM-2, the previous version of the system, provided special services for access to the traffic of individual user_nits, but did not create a large base. The content of new equipment for surveillance lay on the shoulders of operators.

The content of equipment according to the "Law of Yarovaya Irina Yarovaya is a deputy of the State Duma. At the beginning of her career, she was in the Yabloko party, later transferred to United Russia. Now - deputy chairman of the State Duma. One of the public figures fighting for the Internet censorship. ", Which was adopted in 2016, the state also laid on business. Under the pretext of combating terrorism, the authorities ordered the telecom operators to store for six months the entire user Internet traffic, as well as records of telephone conversations. Already in 2018, when the law entered into force, the operators continued to demand improvements. MTS Vice President Ruslan Ibragimov then said that MTS and MGTS expenses will amount to about 1.7 trillion rubles. For comparison, the income of St. Petersburg for 2018 amounted to 579 billion, that is, three times less. However, the authorities still adopted the law, albeit lowering the requirements for operators. MTS and other operators in 2019 estimated expenses at about 50 billion rubles in five years.

In 2018, the chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev noted that the number of cases for actions on the Internet for three years increased several times and reached five hundred. Moreover, in comparison with real ones, the “crimes” on the network have a feature: they are lasting. For example, if you killed a person several decades ago, now you are unlikely to be convicted for this: the statute of limitations has expired. But if you published a picture with a mockery of Orthodoxy, then it continues to “harm”. The statute of limitations is constantly updated, which means that you can condemn you at any time.

Step fourth: time to call the alliance_z. Blogger and elections

In 2018, the state again held a large -scale “recruitment” on the Internet. During the presidential campaign, Yuri Khovansky, Danya Komkov, Lizzka and other popular blogger_ki released a series of videos calling to go to the polls. When the user was accused of propaganda, the author of the videos replied that they were participating in the comic project "Lenta.ru" under the name "Who is your candidate." The project supposedly had to “show real candidates, [...] what the agitation of Pocikov in the style looks like.”

Lizka sings that "was born where there is freedom of choice"

The excuse convinced few. Firstly, the authorities then tried by any means to increase the turnout in the upcoming elections in order to provide Putin with the illusion of legitimacy. Near the voting sites they even sold buckwheat at reduced prices. Secondly, the publication "Lenta.ru" is associated with the state-after overclocking the opposition editorial office, headed by Galina Timchenko in 2013. Thirdly, as one could see more by “thank you, Eve”, the state can mimic under the Internet environment in order to take possession of the attention of a new audience. Therefore, it is not surprising that political advertising was ordered from entertainment bloggers (Khovansky observed the Shavers, and Danya Komkov shot Trevel-Video).

In the end, in 2020, the state created a whole department, the task of which is to be friends with the creator of content on the Internet. The Institute for the Development of the Internet, a non-profit organization established back in 2015, received the status of a grant operator and the right to distribute state money on a competitive basis. The main goal of Iri is to support the “patriotic and youth” content. For example, in the 2020 competition there were such nominations: “We are proud”, “We are together”, “Russia of the 21st century” and “Do good”. Iri was ready to support projects worth even more than 80 million rubles. The main thing is that the content gains the right number of views. At the same time, Iri himself was “propaganda for smart”: he often supported projects aimed at young people, not necessarily with a clear political coloring. For example, in 2021, the documentary “Russia. We are 30 years old ”and the magazine“ Poster Daily ”with the Ostanets project, which was published in 2022 and talked about people who chose not to emigrate from Russia after the outbreak of war.

Step Five: everyone should be registered. Taxes and prison

At the beginning of a full -scale war with Ukraine, the state blocked Facebook and Instagram. META, which owns the services, was declared extremist. This was the reason for the mass transition of the audience to Telegram: the messenger moved in the list of the most popular resources from the ninth to fifth place, second only to WhatsApp, Yandex, Google and VK, but having overtaken, for example, YouTube.

The state has tools for influencing Telegram. By the beginning of the war, networks of state propaganda channels were already working in the messenger. The owner of the Telegram Pavel Durov made the impression of a man who knows how to negotiate with the authorities: the blocking of the messenger remained in the past In 2021, Pavel Durov blocked the “smart voting” bot, which recommended opposition candidates in different regions. The entrepreneur argued that in Russia there is a “day of silence” when agitation is prohibited, and the bot violates “local laws”. , but the boot of “smart voting” from Navalny is still blocked. But at the same time, Telegram has developed a large information services market, which is still poorly regulated and is a danger to the authorities.

One of the services that sold “analytical” and news channels that have gained popularity is “Blok for Negativ”. That is, the media undertakes not to write critical materials about the customer. In the fall of 2022, Kirill Sukhanov, commercial director of Ksenia Sobchak, fell under the criminal prosecution for the offer of such a service. He allegedly demanded 11 million rubles for a “negative block” from Sergey Chemezov, the head of the Rostec military company. Ksenia Sobchak then left Russia and Lithuania, but later apologized to Chemezov and returned to the country. But Sukhanov and his colleagues are in jail. The Bell found out that Rostec since the summer of 2022 carefully monitors all the reviews of itself and puts pressure on the disloyal telegram channels.

Patriotic media frankly “patriotic” media fell under pressure. In July 2023, the court arrested three administrators of the Kremlin laundry telegram channel: the former FSB colonel Mikhail Polyakov, entrepreneur Alexander Sanin and Denis Savinsky. Their telegram network specialized in pro-government propaganda, “drains” and political analytics. All three are accused of extorting 40 million rubles from Lanit, the largest state contractor in the field of IT services. Judging by the fact that completely different bloggers fall under pressure, it can be assumed that the matter is not in the political position, but in the influence of the channels and the desire of the state to find forms of legal control over the market.

In general, the Telegram market resembles the media floor of the 1990s. Then businessmen and politicians paid for the “order” and incriminating evidence for their competitors, and the media had a share of power: to whom to help and to whom to refuse. If now even the head of a key military company in Russia had to go to court, which means that it is publicly displayed, then telegram channels are also influential.

The sixth step. Equate Blogero_k to the journalist_kam

Back in 2014, the state adopted the first “Bloggers Law”. He involved the registration of resources with an audience of more than 3,000 people a day in the blogiro_K register, as well as their own liability for moderation of content created by the user, for example, comments. However, almost no one registered in the registry, no strict coercion tools were created, and in 2017 the law was canceled.

In the summer of 2023, the State Duma again began to discuss the "Law on Bloggers." Now the authorities drew attention not only to content, but also to financial transparency. According to Vedomosti, the income of Blogero_k over the year of the war increased by 27%, and the Native advertising market amounted to 12 billion rubles in 2022. At the same time, many creator of the content did not pay taxes or carried out “to white” only part of the payments.

The officials are submitting a new “bloggers law” as a way to protect themselves for the creator of the content. “Legalization” supposedly protect them from unexpected persecution and generally expand the rights. “They, like the media, should be able to send official requests to state bodies, accredited to socially significant events, gain access to documents,” said one of the co -author of the law, a deputy from Just Russia, Yana Lantratov. But in reality, the equalization of bloggers to the media will extend to them all the restrictions on traditional media: from advertising rules to censorship of political or simply dubious content. Yes, to register all blogger, you will need a lot of effort. Yes, they will not be very effective, they can again cause rejection by operators, they are unlikely to bring the state a large income from taxes. But was it prevented from accepting the “Spring Pack”?

Step Seventh: We remove competitors

In February 2023, a large -scale investigation was published #russiansorfiles, based on a leak from the “Main Radio Frequency Center” (GRCHC), a subsidiary of Roskomnadzor. It turned out that a course was taken to automate censorship: if earlier employees of the RKN manually searched and blocked the forbidden content, then by 2024 they plan to launch the neural network "Vepr". “Vepr” will analyze the materials of the media, predict “points of information tension” and neutralize them. Even earlier, the neural networks began to teach the search for “calls for the forcible overthrow of power”, “insults of the president”, “fakes about the president and the state”, “propaganda of non -traditional sexual relations”.

The expert - the interlocutors of the publication "Important Stories" doubt that the "Vepr" and other neural networks will allow effectively censored the Internet. But on July 31, 2023, Putin signed a series of laws on the next tightening control of the online space. New laws prohibit the activities of providers that are not entered in a special register, and advertising funds for bypassing Internet blocks, limit the participation of foreign companies in news aggregators. In addition, there was a ban on the use of foreign mail for registration on Russian services. Artem Kozlyuk, the founder of Roskomvoboda , comments on this: “Firstly, in the future it allows you to painlessly block Western postal services. Secondly, the more users of Russian services, the more opportunities for monitoring of special services. It is important that this law is pressure on services, and not on users directly. It is the services that will have to check all this. And users simply will not be able to register somewhere, and they will have to make mail on Yandex or Mail.ru. ”

It is also important that from Runet they continue to squeeze out foreign owners. It was their influence that did not allow to completely control the network in the past. Now the barriers are less. In the tenths, the state had to bribe author of content, slowly and systematically limit the freedoms of different groups. Now, when most of the Western services have gone, control over domestic social networks will only grow: they have nowhere to run.

Under the new laws, the responsibility for the moderation of content lies, as usual, on the operators of the communication and the owners of social networks. For example, one of the new laws introduces responsibility for the promotion of information limited by Roskomnadzor. This means that aggregators and social networks will have to teach their advisory algorithms to recognize and not promote information similar to the “forbidden”. Of course, for VK with annual revenue of almost 100 billion rubles, a fine of a fine of up to 4 million is not so terrible financially. But the list of responsibilities to the authorities with social networks has become much more: moderation of content, responsibility for the actions of algorithms, operational pre -trial response.

It seems that the ideal image of a blogger or an online entrepreneur, and just a user_nitsa is a bureaucrat, the worst thing for whom_i is not a bonus, but a reputation. If you are deprived of the “thirteenth salary”, this is unpleasant, but if the authorities are disappointed in your loyalty, then you will be unlikely to be allowed to new projects and budget, and they can be expelled from the common space.