This week, we spoke to Dr Mariëlle Wijermars about internet governance in authoritarian states like Russia. We discussed the current strategies of the Russian government in internet crackdowns both at home and abroad and the trend of bots, online propaganda and banned media outlets in attempts at ongoing censorship. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday November 8th 2024. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Join our Discord Server for the next live talk at: https://discord.gg/bellingcat

Mariëlle's publications: https://mariellewijermars.com/

Relevant articles:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/30/kremlin-forced-us-tech-firms-shut-down-an-app-its-opponents-were-using-now-what/

https://cepa.org/article/russias-social-media-self-censorship-law-is-misguided-and-the-west-must-avoid-making-the-same-mistake/

Bellingcat RuNet webinar: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/december-10-2024-bellingcat-online-workshop-on-runet-investigations-4-hour-americas-friendly-time/

Example of Russian bot networks on X impersonating Bellingcat: https://x.com/EliotHiggins/status/1838872568041816103

Hugo Mercier’s book Not Born Yesterday might be relevant. Interviews include this one: https://youtu.be/P2iIwEqUecA?feature=shared

Mariëlle's Horizon project https://www.arm-project.eu/

Link to story about telegram: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240827-free-speech-and-homeland-kremlin-opportunistic-response-to-telegram-boss-pavel-durov-arrest-in-france

Bellingcat's archiver tool: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2022/09/22/preserve-vital-online-content-with-bellingcats-auto-archiver-tool/