internet providers are also growing wary of how state-backed hackers could use their services to spread disinformation and enable cyberespionage. Oracle has shut down its Russian cloud service operations. Microsoft and Apple have suspended new sales of their products, including iPhones and business software, in the country. tech companies are also pulling their products and services from the country to appease wary investors and prevent the Russian government from spreading misinformation through their channels. Rebecca Kern and Mark Scott and Clothilde Goujardīut it’s not all the Kremlin’s doing. State Department condemned the blockages, saying in a statement that Russia’s bans further limit tens of millions of Russians’ access to independent news about the invasion and violate an international right to freedom of expression under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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At that time, the company stressed the importance of free expression, tweeting: “We believe people should have free and open access to the Internet, which is particularly important during times of crisis.” Twitter said it was aware of the reports that it was also being blocked in Russia, but said it hasn’t seen anything significantly different from what it shared last week - that some users are experiencing difficulties connecting in Russia. Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Facebook’s parent Meta, tweeted on Friday that Russians will be “cut off from reliable information, deprived from their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out.” He said Facebook is working to restore its services. Russia’s restrictions on social media companies will limit Russian users’ access to independent information and users’ ability to respond to the crisis in real time, the companies say. “For Putin, this is the last 10 yards of a years-long push to lock down Russia’s information space from not only Western and foreign influence, but even for many opposition or independent elements domestically,” said Gavin Wilde, a former National Security Council official focused on Russia, now a managing consultant at Krebs Stamos Group. Putin has been steadily pushing to disentangle Russia’s internet ecosystem from the rest of the world’s for years, experts said, which means the latest shutdowns are likely to last even beyond the crisis in Ukraine.
He said this past week has seen an “unprecedented” escalation of Russians being cut off from Western sources of information - only one of the many ways that Russia is increasingly isolated on the geopolitical stage. “The Kremlin is more willing than ever to block these platforms,” said Justin Sherman, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative.
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