State News Networks Embrace Encryption as Russian Censorship Worsens

Russia’s crackdown on information about its Ukraine invasion may prompt some rethinking of anti-encryption positions. Last Friday, Russia announced plans to block Facebook access and enacted a law banning “fake” coverage of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Though pitches as an attempt to ban misinformation, the new law actually prohibits various types of truthful language about Russia’s “special military operation,” which Russian authorities say should not be called an invasion.

In response to the new law, outside media outlets and tech companies—from CNN to TikTok—said they’ll cease operations in Russia or block Russian accounts from posting.

2/ In light of Russia’s new ‘fake news’ law, we have no choice but to suspend livestreaming and new content to our video service while we review the safety implications of this law. Our in-app messaging service will not be affected.

— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) March 6, 2022

To circumvent such censorship attempts, some outlets are embracing the dark web and encrypted communications. For instance, the BBC is instructing people on how to access its coverage through the privacy-enabling Tor browser or through Psiphon. (Tor reported recently that its use in Russia and Ukraine has been surging.)

The British government has often been hostile to privacy-enabling tech like Tor and encrypted communication. Now the British-government-funded broadcaster is promoting its dark web Ukrainian- and Russian-language sites.

Old enough to remember when the UK government wanted to outlaw Tor. https://t.co/D2aJpTbxSp

— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) March 4, 2022

Meanwhile, the United States’ government-owned broadcaster, the Voice of America, has said that it “will continue to promote and support tools and resources that will allow our audiences to bypass any blocking efforts imposed on our sites in Russia.” And the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has “directed people to nthLink, a free VPN service supported by the Open Technology Fund,” reports The Washington Post. It “also provided a link to its website on the Tor browser…and encouraged people to join its channel on Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform that Russia tried to ban in 2018.”

These are heartening developments. These governments’ support for letting ordinary people use private communications may not outlast this particular conflict. But it’s another reminder why encrypted communications and cryptocurrency—which has proved similarly useful in aiding people oppressed by Russia—are not just the tools for crime that privacy-hating politicians often make them out to be.