When, on the evening of Friday March 4, the Russian authorities announced the blocking of Facebook on their territory, Lena*, a 30-year-old from Saint Petersburg, was still browsing as much as she could on the social network. Among the content that is scattered on his feed, sponsored posts to encourage Internet users to stock up or publications inciting rebellion: “Your children don’t know where they are being sent. Maybe it’s time to break the silence? No to war! “.
Like many Russian netizens critical of the regime, she is used to being extra careful with every blow the Kremlin strikes at freedom of information, especially online. “Facebook had been slowed down for several days, the images were no longer downloading. Anyway, I prepared myself. I have several VPNs and have downloaded TOR [navigateur anonyme conçu pour contourner la censure] ».
Lena, who lived and studied in France before returning to her country to work in the cultural sector, uses Whatsapp and Instagram (owned by Facebook) to communicate with her family and foreign friends. But like an overwhelming majority of Russians and Ukrainians, she mainly uses Telegram messaging. With YouTube, “It is one of our first sources [d’information]with a large selection of different channels »adds Lena, praising the journalists and dissident figures who use it to directly inform their public.
Navigating fake news
“For the moment it is quite easy to find information on Ukraine”believes for his part Nastasia *, one of his acquaintances, who no longer listens to the news and state television for ten years. ” Corn ! There are two buts: you have to have the motivation to find different points of view and you have to know how to distinguish fake news, propaganda and provocations”.
Sonia*, “half Ukrainian”, confirm: “All our friends and relations in Ukraine post a lot of information through Facebook and Instagram. But there’s so much misinformation and emotion [sur ces plateformes] that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the truth from the lies. With my husband and our friends, we rely on sources that come from the closest circle..
A façade of silence
A source of additional concern, on March 4, Vladimir Putin signed texts providing for sentences of up to fifteen years in prison for journalists as well as private individuals, Russian or foreign, who would spread “false information about the army”. Specialists in the matter, such as Olga Bronnikova, teacher and researcher in sociology at the University of Grenoble-Alpes and member of the research collective “Les Résistants du Net”, consider that the Russian media landscape and Internet are now completely locked.
As for the heavy fire of viral content from Ukraine, it is not always certain that it will reach Internet users in Russia. In question: censorship, but also the fact that the Russians use platforms little used in the rest of the world, such as VKontakte, recalls, in an interview with World, Peter W. Singer, expert at the American think tank New America Foundation.
Moreover, and in contrast to their Ukrainian counterparts, a large majority of Russian “influencers” remained silent from the start of the conflict, often contenting themselves with “pray for peace” lip service, taking care, in their ambiguous or timorous messages, not to anger the Kremlin. For fear of censorship as well as the disaffection of their community of fans, which Lena notes are often “polarized”. Sonia agrees: from the earliest days, any user who posted anything against the war was attacked by both followers and bots. There are many Russians who support the actions of the government or, at least, who think that everything is fine”.
Cautious support display
Although she does not feel in danger for the moment, Lena avoids on social networks to use the word “war” which the State has banned in favor of the term “special operation”. Others, in recent days, have been cunning to show their support for Ukraine on their Instagram accounts, spreading the yellow and blue of the flag here and there through emojis or banners displayed in profiles.
Like Polina, a foreign language teacher, who lived and studied in England. She who “never post on the networks and even less his political opinion” lately has been risking putting a Ukrainian flag on his Instagram profile picture. As a precaution, however, it counts quickly erase all [les] chats and private messages in which she was able to express [son] political opinion “, anticipating a possible arrest or leaks. It must be said that pro-Putin Internet users identify anti-war public figures in Telegram loops, that The world was able to consult, in order to denounce those who could fall under the yoke of the new laws.
According to the Russian NGO OVD-Info, 13,000 anti-war activists have been arrested in Russia during demonstrations since the start of the military operation on February 24. Monday March 7, Yulia left Russia with her granddaughter, for fear of reprisals.
“You have to understand how dangerous it is to speak publicly here. As Russian activists and citizens, we know what it costs usinsists this activist also from Saint-Petersburg. You can spend several weeks in prison just for participating in a demonstration, relaying an event online or holding a simple sign. But I have the impression that people who didn’t care are beginning to realize how the Russian state acts”.
At a time when the vice of censorship is tightening, Polina seeks more to know if her relatives and friends are well, rather than information on the war which ends up nourishing in her a certain guilt of being Russian. “Feelings not very useful to move forward and act”, she believes. Because, in addition to the danger and the silencing, there is another aspect of the conflict which undermines the Russian Internet users with whom The world has been able to exchange in recent days: “hatred against all Russiansregrets Lena. An attitude of blaming the people for a decision we didn’t make, that we don’t support.”.
First names followed by a
Pauline Croquet
source site-29