RBC: Cases of “interference with freedom” of Runet increased by 55%

In 2021, the number of cases of “interference with freedom” of the Runet increased by 55%. This, according to RBC, is stated in the report of the project of the human rights group “Agora” (in 2014 she was included in the list of foreign agents, in 2016 she was liquidated at the suit of the Ministry of Justice, currently she works without registration – ed. ed.) “Network freedoms”.

It is clarified that the report is about a wide format, including both the prohibition of information and the blocking of sites, as well as requests for personal data of users and much more. According to Agora, more than 451.5 thousand cases of intervention were recorded last year.

At the same time, monitoring did not take into account the legality of interventions. Thus, the category “criminal prosecution” included both cases with charges brought, as well as interrogations, searches, etc. The report was based on data obtained from open sources, such as reports from state bodies, expert opinions, and media materials.

The main findings of the report are that most of the interventions involve the inclusion of resources on the banned list; the number of cases of bringing to administrative responsibility has increased; 44 cases of cyber attacks on journalists, bloggers and activists were recorded; criminal prosecution for statements in Runet in the past year reached the values ​​of 2017.

According to Roskomnadzor, in 2021, more than 425,000 resources ended up in the register of prohibited content. The representative of the department explained to RBC that the slowdown of Twitter on mobile devices persists, since the owners have not yet removed some of the content, despite the instructions. According to him, this content refers to the promotion of drugs and suicide, as well as child pornography.