Search
Program Calendar
Browse By Day
Browse By Time
Browse By Person
Browse By Room
Browse By Category
Browse By Session Type
Browse By Affiliate Organization
Search Tips
2018 Convention Home
2018 Program Theme
About ASEEES
Personal Schedule
Sign In
This paper explores how the Russian-language Internet has been reconfigured since 2012 by the struggle for voice and the dissemination of pro-state messages in Runet. The regulation of the Internet in Russia is not confined to the new "laws against the Internet" restricting users' communication. The adoption of these laws is combined with the building of a "gray zone" of communication, not regulated by law, through which attempts are made to influence the Internet. This "gray zone" of the Russian Internet has its own actors (e.g. pro-Kremlin bloggers, trolls and hackers), fighting for the opportunity to speak and dominate Runet discourse. Their aim is not only to disseminate a particular version of events, but also to persuade ordinary users of digital media that nobody is able to understand what has actually happened, normalizing the idea that it is impossible to find out the truth, thus generating a state of uncertainty. This uncertainty, together with doubts about the identity of the authors of these messages, forces Internet users to question the very idea of freedom of speech and debate the necessity of limiting this freedom.