Roskomnadzor restricts the use of Viber by Russians (because of extremism, drugs, etc.)

Friday night in the land of bears is a time for new bans. Usually, at the end of the working week, the lists of people with a conscience are added to the so-called "foreign agents". That is, individuals and legal entities that, in the government's opinion, receive support from abroad or are under foreign influence. This status was introduced in 2012 and has since expanded significantly. But from now on, the most favourite messenger of Ukrainians (as well as Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks and Filipinos) is subject to the ban.

Here's What We Know

Roskomnadzor (the same repressive executive body that exercises "control over compliance with legislation in the field of mass media and communications.") announced the news of the restriction of access to Viber in its telegram channel.

The formal reason for the ban (as usual) looks like a stretch -"in connection with violation of the requirements of Russian legislation to the organisers of information dissemination, the fulfilment of which is necessary to prevent threats of using the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes, recruiting citizens for their implementation, selling drugs, as well as in connection with the posting of illegal information". Simply because it can be used for almost the entire Internet.

From the point of view of Russian "legislation", Viber did not pay the penalties imposed - in March this year, a fine of 800,000 rubles for "publishing prohibited content" and another million in June for "refusing to remove false information about the war in Ukraine".

Context.

Roskomnadzor is considered a repressive body due to its activities aimed at controlling the information space in Russia and suppressing freedom of speech. The main aspects that emphasise the repressive nature of this body include:

• Control over information
  Blocking media and social networks: Roskomnadzor regularly blocks access to independent media outlets that cover events in Ukraine or criticise the Russian authorities. For example, Ekho Moskvy, Dozhd and Krym.Realii have been blocked for "spreading false information".
• Censorship of content
  After the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Roskomnadzor imposed strict restrictions on the use of the term "war" and demanded that media outlets remove publications that did not correspond to the official version of events. This is subject to serious penalties, including fines and criminal proceedings.
• Prohibition of expression
  Legislation passed after the outbreak of war provides for imprisonment of up to 15 years for disseminating "false information" about the actions of the Russian armed forces. This creates an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship among journalists and citizens.

P.S. By the way, gg was also quite officially included by Roskomnadzor in the register of banned sites at the level of the entire domain back in 2022, which seems quite logical (if we use the logic of the repressive body of a totalitarian state).

Source: Roskomnadzor Telegram channel