Latest posts by Kevin Rothrock from June, 2015
How Russia’s Biggest Homophobe Joined an LGBT Social Community
One of Russia's most popular satirical online communities has used the recent US Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage to troll St. Petersburg's most infamous homophobic politician.
Russia Bans the Internet Archive's ‘Wayback Machine’
The Russian government has blocked the Internet Archive, the San-Francisco-based website that provides the popular Wayback Machine, which allows users to view archived webpages.
A Picture Worth a Thousand Russian Expletives
Last week, eight of the most prominent journalists working in Russia posed for a controversial group photo with the former leader of Donetsk's separatists. Here's what happened.
Smokey the Bear, Meet Your Russian Cousin and Eat Your Heart Out
A national park on the coast of Kamchatka has hired a popular online cartoonist to illustrate a series of public service announcements intended educate visitors about safety around bears.
Is the Kremlin Watering Down Russia's ‘Right to Be Forgotten’?
Kremlin officials and Yandex reportedly reached a compromise that will weaken the next draft of legislation designed to introduce to the RuNet a "right to be forgotten."
How the Kremlin Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Online News Aggregation
According to a new study, the Kremlin appears to have mastered several ways to fool Yandex.News into promoting government-planted stories to an audience that surpassed 23 million people in April.
Samsung Allegedly Agrees to Comply with Russia's Data-Localization Law
Speculation that Samsung will bow to Russia’s new data-localization demands comes amid rumors that other prominent tech companies have agreed to move users' data to servers in Russia.
Facebook Responds to ‘Stop Political Blocking’ Petition by Russians and Ukrainians
In a statement posted to Change.org on June 8, Thomas Kristensen, Facebook’s director of policy for Eastern Europe and Russia, explained that the social network stands by its moderation policies
Russian Activist Dons Stilettos and Dog Collar to Protest ‘Sadists’ Law’
Submitted to the Duma in late May, the legislation would expand the circumstances under which guards can use force when confronting anything from a prison break to a disobedient prisoner
Taking Russia’s Troll Factories to Court
Last week, a woman named Lyudmila Savchuk announced that she is suing Russia’s most famous “troll factory." Savchuk says she worked for this office until March as an undercover reporter.
Russia Claims Another Victory Against Twitter, But Here's What Really Happened
This is not the first time Russian censors claim to have persuaded Twitter to comply with takedown requests. As before, Moscow’s claim today that Twitter “deleted 32 links” is inaccurate.