{"id":11599,"date":"2022-02-09T23:58:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T23:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/09\/content-moderation-case-study-russia-slows-down-access-to-twitter-as-new-form-of-censorship-2021\/"},"modified":"2022-02-09T23:58:14","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T23:58:14","slug":"content-moderation-case-study-russia-slows-down-access-to-twitter-as-new-form-of-censorship-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/09\/content-moderation-case-study-russia-slows-down-access-to-twitter-as-new-form-of-censorship-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Content Moderation Case Study: Russia Slows Down Access To Twitter As New Form Of Censorship (2021)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the throttling-as-moderation<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

\nSummary:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn March 10 2021, the\u00a0Russian Government deliberately slowed down access to Twitter<\/a>\u00a0after it accused the platform of repeatedly failing to remove posts about illegal drug use, child pornography, and pushing minors towards suicide.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\nState communications watchdog Roskomnadzor (RKN) claimed that \u201cthrottling\u201d the speed of uploading and downloading images and videos on Twitter was to protect its citizens by making its content less accessible. Using\u00a0Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology<\/a>, RKN essentially filtered internet traffic for Twitter-related domains. As part of Russia\u2019s controversial\u00a02019 Sovereign Internet Law<\/a>, all Russian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were required to install this technology, which allows internet traffic to be filtered, rerouted, and blocked with granular rules through a centralized system. In this example, it blocked or slowed down access to specific content (images and videos) rather than the entire service. DPI technology also gives Russian authorities unilateral and automatic access to ISPs\u2019 information systems and access to keys to decrypt user communications.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

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<\/a>
Twitter throttling in Russia meme. Translation: \u201cRunet<\/a>\u00a0users; Twitter\u201d<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\nThe University of Michigan\u2019s\u00a0researchers reported<\/a>\u00a0connection speeds to Twitter users were reduced on average by 87 percent and some Russian internet service providers reported a\u00a0wider slowdown in access<\/a>. Inadvertently, this throttling affected all website domains that included the substring t.co (Twitter\u2019s shortened domain name), including Microsoft.com, Reddit.com, Russian state operated news site rt.com and several other\u00a0Russian Government websites<\/a>, including RKN\u2019s own.\n<\/p>\n

\nAlthough reports suggest that Twitter has a limited user base in Russia, perhaps\u00a0as low as 3% of the population<\/a>\u00a0(from an overall population of 144 million), it is popular with politicians, journalists and opposition figures. The \u2018throttling<\/a>\u2019 of access was likely intended as a warning shot to other platforms and a test of Russia\u2019s technical capabilities. Russian parliamentarian,\u00a0Aleksandr Khinshtein<\/a>, an advocate of the 2019 Sovereign Internet Law, was quoted as saying that:\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\nPutting the brakes on Twitter traffic \u201cwill force all other social networks and large foreign internet companies to understand Russia won\u2019t silently watch and swallow the flagrant ignoring of our laws.\u201d The companies would have to obey Russian rules on content or \u201close the possibility to make money in Russia.\u201d \u2014 Aleksandr Khinshtein\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Russian Government has a history of trying to limit and control citizen\u2019s access and use of social media. In 2018, it tried and\u00a0ultimately failed to shut down Telegram<\/a>, a popular messaging app. Telegram, founded by the Russian \u00e9migr\u00e9,\u00a0Pavel Durov<\/a>, refused to hand over its encryption keys to RKN, despite a court order. Telegram was able to thwart the shutdown attempts by shifting the hosting of its website to Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services through\u00a0\u2018domain fronting\u2019<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which the Russian Government later banned. The Government eventually backed down in the face of technical difficulties and strong public opposition.
Many\u00a0news outlets suggest<\/a>\u00a0that these incidents demonstrate that Russia, where the internet has long been a last bastion of free speech as the government has shuttered independent news organizations and obstructed political opposition, is now tipping towards the more tightly controlled Chinese model and\u00a0replicating aspects of its famed Great Fire Wall<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 including creating home-grown alternatives to Western platforms. They also warn that as Russian tactics become bolder and its censorship technology more technically sophisticated \u2013 they will be easily co-opted and scaled up by other autocratic governments.\n<\/p>\n

\nCompany considerations:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n