Putin’s digital iron curtain has fallen heavily on Russia, but many tech-savvy citizens can access outside news and social media easily. It’s leading to conflict over what’s true and what’s not between friends and family.
Highlights
- Some Russians are trying to pierce Russian President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda bubble, at times leaving them at odds with their own families, friends and co-workers.
- The war in Ukraine is only deepening the divide between young, tech-savvy people and an older generation who gets their news mostly from TV.
- Many Russians who go online have come to rely on a range of digital tools to outmaneuver Russian censors.
- They seek out independent news about the war online, splitting them from others whose information comes from government propaganda that floods TV, government-backed websites and large swaths of social networks that remain unrestricted, like Telegram or VK.