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Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

reuters.com

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Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#121

Post by cutemonster »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #112

Russian here. Most comments here are pure nonsense. The only reason Facebook risks getting blocked is because in Russia it is predominantly used by dissidents and people in opposition to Putin's regime. It doesn't block groups, events, etc at Kremlin's behest. So it should be blocked. Upd: many commenters here clearly misread my comment, or maybe it's my poor English. "It should be blocked" means that it is in Putin'…

It sounds as if you think FB should block things at Kremlin's behest, and since FB doesn't, it deserves to get blocked itself -- is that what you meant?

(Or did you mean that therefore it was logical for Putin to block FB? Or, well, maybe you wrote something different from what you wanted to write, not being a native English speaker)

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#122

Post by witrak »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #104
thinkingemote wrote: post #73

A good tactic would be to point out to Russians that their government is censoring political things for them. They like to think they are free and above the hypocrisy of the west. But the key thing is the West allows it's citizens to criticise itself. The Russians do not have that freedom. It's basically becoming like China in the way of censorship and lack of freedom, to protect it's citizens and the fatherland. To…

> They like to think they are free and above the hypocrisy of the west. This statement shows you have no idea what Russians like to think. Better stop embarrassing yourself further with such opinions. Source: I'm actually Russian.

You seem to believe strongly that the fact that you are Russian makes your opinion of what Russians think (or not think) absolutely true.

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#123

Post by kodablah »

tadfisher wrote: post #117
kodablah wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it is predominantly used by dissidents and people in opposition to Putin's regime [...] So it should be blocked. Well, at least your stance is clear. Obviously most will disagree with a government blocking a site for being used by the current leader's opposition.

I don't think you're reading the post charitably or correctly.

Ah, I see...maybe the OP means FB should be blocked because they are not doing individual blocking at the government's request? I think it's still pretty easy to disagree with that justification too (same as I'd disagree if a US ISP was forced to block a Russian site that didn't kowtow to US requests). And it's still easy to see that the reasons given by the OP for why it risks getting blocked are disagreeable to.

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#124

Post by pessimizer »

reaperducer wrote: post #101
skybrian wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much have they changed their minds in the last few days?

How much have they changed their minds in the last few days? Enough that there are protests in most major Russian cities against the invasion of Ukraine. Just yesterday, Moscow police arrested over 1,000 protesters. They can only keep up that pace for so long.

This can't be true, because this thread started off with

> In repressive regimes there is no freedom to protest. You cannot have hypocrisy in how you deal with political protests if you do not have political protests!

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#125

Post by cutemonster »

kodablah wrote: post #123
tadfisher wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you're reading the post charitably or correctly.

Ah, I see...maybe the OP means FB should be blocked because they are not doing individual blocking at the government's request? I think it's still pretty easy to disagree with that justification too (same as I'd disagree if a US ISP was forced to block a Russian site that didn't kowtow to US requests). And it's still easy to see that the reasons given by the OP for why it risks getting blocked are disagreeable to.

(I asked what was meant, in a sibling reply)

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#126

Post by throwawayay02 »

thinkingemote wrote: post #73

A good tactic would be to point out to Russians that their government is censoring political things for them. They like to think they are free and above the hypocrisy of the west. But the key thing is the West allows it's citizens to criticise itself. The Russians do not have that freedom. It's basically becoming like China in the way of censorship and lack of freedom, to protect it's citizens and the fatherland. To…

What a ridiculous take. Yes the Russian govmt censors a lot of things. The west also does it. And more than plain censoring, which happens mostly in China, what happens the most is just building a narrative: only show what you need to be shown, diminish opposing views, augment yours, shape the narrative by building a fake opposition. These are basic strategies done since before world war 2.

The russians by and large know very well not to trust the government. But who will work best in their interest instead, will NATO? Would the US trust Europe to fix their two-party "democracy" and lack of healthcare?

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#127

Post by cutemonster »

abdullin wrote: post #23
mlkmt wrote: post #17

anyone knows how Russia limited the access?

(lived in Russia until 2021, not authorative source of info) All ISP providers are required to have black boxes installed on-site. These boxes can do traffic shaping (e.g. Twitter is degraded) and basic filtering based on IP addresses. I think, deep packet inspection is also feasible. Config updates are pushed centrally to these boxes. Self-managed VPNs still work.

What about Tor?

Or if Twitter gets more IP addresses, they'll work for a short while, until black box config updated?

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#128

Post by throwawayay02 »

dshpala wrote: post #86
thinkingemote wrote: post #73

A good tactic would be to point out to Russians that their government is censoring political things for them. They like to think they are free and above the hypocrisy of the west. But the key thing is the West allows it's citizens to criticise itself. The Russians do not have that freedom. It's basically becoming like China in the way of censorship and lack of freedom, to protect it's citizens and the fatherland. To…

Heh, "point to Russians". I have several friends in Moscow, and up until the last few days they were in complete denial about Putin's intentions or troops buildup. There were memes, jokes, etc. The propaganda inside Russia is very strong. Russians need sanctions, they need to start suffering (economically or otherwise). And then maybe they'll wake up.

I do not believe you know any Russians at all, from my experience.

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#129

Post by pessimizer »

kahrl wrote: post #70
vbezhenar wrote: post #51

Ukraine banned vkontakte since 2017. Just to add some perspective. "This is different" I guess.

It's different because Russian sites contain ONLY propaganda, and dissent from the state is ALWAYS silenced. Take this this propaganda false equivalence nonsense and shove it.

Saying vkontakte is ONLY propaganda is as dumb as saying Facebook is ONLY propaganda. They're social networks, and they also have your aunt's recipes and baby pictures.

Re: Russia to restrict Facebook access for 'censoring' its media

#130

Post by cutemonster »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #58
vbezhenar wrote: post #51

Ukraine banned vkontakte since 2017. Just to add some perspective. "This is different" I guess.

> "This is different" I guess. I should say so. Despite all of its hard-earned criticism, Facebook isn't the social media arm of a foreign invader.

And Putin was using VK for psychological warfare. It was crazy it didn't get blocked sooner -- letting an aggressive threatening dictator have instant access to spreading targeted propaganda
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