‘Fake news’ in Russia: State censorship elicits an outcry

In Russia, the internet has been a freewheeling space for information flow and open debate since its inception.

But the cacophony of conflicting social media voices and the power of internet platforms to facilitate political organization – as well as enable extremists to communicate and multiply their messages – has prompted strong impulses among officials to censor what they see as “fake news,” to crack down in the name of truth.

Now a package of new laws, signed this week by Vladimir Putin, is stirring an outcry in Russia over allowing anyone in authority to decide what constitutes fake news and to determine what to do about it.

Russian civil society activists, the Kremlin’s own Presidential

Let the people decide‘Warning signs’Isolate the internet