Paper Summary
Share...

Direct link:

On the Margins of Freedom of Speech: Building the 'Gray Zone' of Communication in Runet, 2012-2018

Fri, December 7, 12:30 to 2:15pm, Boston Marriott Copley Place, Floor: 3rd, Wellesley

Abstract

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.

Author