Ukraine asks for Russia to be kicked off the internet

The internet is more than just hardware. It’s also a global network of shared standards and protocols. Some, such as Domain Name Server (DNS), provide the master address list for all internet resources. 

Now, because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Andrii Nabok, Ukrainian representative on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, have asked that Russia’s top-level domains (TLD), such as .ru, .рф, and .su be revoked along with their associated Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates.  

Why? To stop the Russian propaganda machine, and prevent further propaganda and disinformation.

“These atrocious crimes have been made possible mainly due to the Russian propaganda machinery using websites continuously spreading disinformation, hate speech, promoting violence and hiding the truth regarding the war in Ukraine,” Nabok said.

Fedorov has also asked that RIPE NCC, the regional Internet registry for Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia, withdraw Russia and its Local Internet Registries (LIR) rights to use their assigned IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and to block their DNS root servers.  

If it were to happen, the move would be unprecedented. While Russia has deliberately disconnected itself from the internet in the past as a security test, this is an entirely different proposition. 

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Defending Freedom And Democracy Sure Requires An Awful Lot Of Censorship

Kremlin-backed media outlets have been banned throughout the European Union, both on television and on apps and online platforms. RT has lost its Sky TV slot in the UK, where the outlet is also blocked on YouTube. Australian TV providers SBS and Foxtel have dropped RT, and the federal government is putting pressure on social media platforms to block Russian media in Australia.

In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Latvia, speaking in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will get you years in prison.

Twitter, historically the last of the major online platforms to jump on any new internet censorship escalation, is now actively minimizing the number of people who see Russian media content, saying that it is “reducing the content’s visibility” and “taking steps to significantly reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter”. This censorship-by-algorithm tactic is exactly what I speculated might emerge after former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey resigned back in November, due to previous comments supportive of that practice by his successor Parag Agrawal.

Twitter is also placing warnings labels on all Russia-backed media and delivering a pop-up message informing you that you are committing wrongthink if you try to share or even ‘like’ a post linking to such outlets on the platform. It has also placed the label “Russia state-affiliated media” on every tweet made by the personal accounts of employees of those platforms, baselessly giving the impression that the dissident opinions tweeted by those accounts are paid Kremlin content and not simply their own legitimate perspectives. Some are complaining that this new label has led to online harassment amid the post-9/11-like anti-Russia hysteria that’s currently turning western brains into clam chowder.

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Famous Globalists & Occultists Come Out in Defense of Ukraine, Turn Internet Toward Putin

Well-known globalists and occultists like high priestess Marina Abramovic are endorsing Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, prompting some on social media to consider rooting for Vladimir Putin instead.

Abramovic, a Democrat known for her occult antics like Spirit Cooking ceremonies, denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for social media to rally to Ukraine’s side of the conflict.

“An attack to Ukraine is to attack all of us,” Abramovic said in a video circulating Twitter. “It’s an attack to humanity and has to be stopped.”

Abramovic’s dark legacy is so repugnant that many people commented that while they otherwise would not support Russia – framed as the aggressor in this conflict – her endorsement of Ukraine is making them reconsider.

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Russians face 15 years in prison for posting ‘fake news’ about Ukraine war under new law

Russians face 15 years in prison for posting ‘fake news’ about the Ukraine war under a new law. 

State TV in Russia, controlled by the Kremlin, has said the new measure could be discussed in its parliament, the Federal Assembly, during next week. 

The news comes as Russian officers detained over 1,000s of people during anti war protests in cities across the country and half of Russians have said they support the war against Ukraine. 

Both Russians and Ukrainians also protested the war in Trafalgar Square in London yesterday. 

Along with the ‘fake news’ measure, media reports will only be able to say the amount of Russian miliatary losses that have been ‘verified’ by Putin’s defence ministry, according to the Times. 

So far Russia has admitted some of its soldiers have been killed since they began their invasion, which Ukraine estimates totals 5,000 soldiers, but the Kremlin has not issued numbers so far. 

Vyacheslav Volodin, Russia’s parliamentary speaker, allied with the Russian government, supports the measure. 

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Facebook, Twitter, Google, Netflix ALL BLOCK Russian News Broadcasts, Content At Direct Behest Of The European Union

Big tech has moved in lockstep to censor Russian news networks Sputnik and RT, further ensuring that westerners only receive one narrative when it comes to coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.

Facebook is restricting access to content from RT and Sputnik on both its main social media platform and Instagram following “requests from a number of governments,” according to he company’s vice president Nick Clegg.

The move comes just hours after the EU announced it will ban RT and Sputnik broadcasts across the bloc, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen declaring that the networks are spreading “harmful disinformation,” and that the EU is further “developing tools to ban toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”

Following pressure from EU officials on Google and its subsidiary YouTube to crackdown on content from the Russian news networks, the tech giant also announced that it will block YouTube channels “connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately”.

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DEBUNKED: Corporate Media’s Top Trending Ukraine Stories Turn Out To Be Complete Fakes.

A number of popular stories chronicling Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s ongoing invasion – including those promoted by U.S. Congressmen, media outlets, and even conservatives online – have turned out to be false, despite garnering millions of shares and likes.

The viral, fake stories come amidst social media platforms rolling out robust “fact-checking” operations, often used to swiftly censor stories counter to establishment narratives or critical of the Democratic Party. These programs, however, have routinely failed to flag the following stories as false with the same tenacity.

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