Laura Henry and Laura Howells ’20 on “Controlling Russia’s Data House”

Moreover, a Russian court docket has additionally banned Fb and Instagram, whereas entry to Twitter has been severely restricted, say Henry and Howells, who coauthored a peer-reviewed tutorial article on the topic in December 2021.

Such efforts by the Russian authorities to stem the free circulate of data are being unwittingly assisted by exterior actors, we’re informed. Worldwide sanctions, mixed with “company self-sanctioning” by know-how corporations like Apple, Netflix, Spotify, and Microsoft, run the danger of “ceding the knowledge area to the Kremlin.

Chopping off Russian customers from worldwide platforms makes it simpler for the Kremlin to isolate the Russian public from all however its carefully-crafted narratives… On the subject of the digital sphere,” the article concludes, “supporters of Ukraine ought to as a substitute be searching for sensible sanctions that prioritize common Russians’ skill to entry different media and providers somewhat than inadvertently making digital authoritarianism much more doable for the Russian authorities.” Learn the complete article.

“As a Fulbright researcher in Estonia, I’m learning academic interventions for growing public resilience in opposition to political mis/disinformation. I additionally collaborate with native students in a research to research the trajectory of official Russian discourse on the Baltics and Ukraine. I plan to construct on these analysis themes, and extra broadly the idea of data politics, in my PhD research within the Division of Politics at Princeton this fall.

 “Dwelling in Estonia, particularly because the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has given me a novel vantage level within the area at a pivotal time. As a previously Soviet-occupied state which additionally shares a border with Russia, Estonia has lengthy warned the world of Russia’s territorial aspirations and manipulative data techniques. With the ability to observe Estonia’s place on these points firsthand has knowledgeable my work immensely and in methods I’ll cherish for years to come back.”

Laura Howells ’20