As the Kremlin cracks down on Western social media platforms, Russians are losing access to independent accounts of the cost of invading Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainians are using technology to spread the truth.

A new internet iron curtain is falling on Russia. The Kremlin banned Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as extremist organizations. Other companies such as Netflix and Spotify, faced with requests to host government propaganda, left of their own accord.

YouTube, used by three quarters of Russian Internet users, is now the last Western platform standing – but probably not for long. Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor has stepped up threats, while media outlets Gazprom, the state-owned subsidiary of natural gas monopoly Gazprom, have offered an alternative: RuTube.

The Kremlin’s assault on Western tech platforms underscores the critical role they play in the global struggle for democracy and freedom. As these companies face heavy criticism in Europe and the United States on everything from their market power to data privacy, they are often the only outlets for independent journalists, critical opinions and rights activists. rights in repressive regimes. Democratic governments must uphold free speech, which also means upholding independent tech platforms.

Ukraine’s success in the information war depends on free and open access to the Internet. At the start of the war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pulled out his iPhone to show his courage to the world and reassure his citizens that he was staying in kyiv. Ordinary Ukrainians posted on Facebook and TikTok, documenting Russian war crimes. Thanks to technology, Ukraine is winning the global information war. And the Kremlin knows it: the Russian government has banned an interview with President Zelensky and independent Russian journalists.

Unsurprisingly, the free Internet has become a prime target for authoritarian leaders who see it as a threat to their regime. For years now-imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny skillfully used YouTube to reach Russians across the country even as he was banned from mainstream Russian media. His documentary, Putin’s Palace, an expose of a lavish palace in Crimea, garnered 100 million views in its first week online. Today, if YouTube follows the path of its peers, so will any remaining space in Russia for independent voices.

The recent Kremlin crackdown on social media has gone on for a long time. In 2018, the Russian government instituted a set of restrictive measures, the so-called Yarovaya law, requiring companies to store data about their users and provide access to this data to Russian authorities upon request or be banned from operating in Russia. .

Telegram, a popular Russian messaging app, refused to comply, leading to a digital cat-and-mouse lawsuit between the app and government regulators. Eventually, Telegram regained its ability to operate in Russia, but the incident marked the start of a broad government campaign to crack down on non-state-controlled social media.

The Russian government continued to press. Western companies cannot reasonably meet difficult and technically impossible legal requirements. A “hostage-taking” law passed in 2021 requires companies to keep employees in Russia, raising concerns among jailed employees if companies fail to follow the Kremlin’s will.

Last fall, Google and Apple removed a voting tool associated with Navalny from their app stores, later revealing that Russian government agents visited their employees’ homes. Around the same time, Twitter, after resisting requests to remove content, saw its website traffic slow to the point where it no longer worked.

It’s easy to see why Russia sees Western platforms as a threat. Without them, truthful information about Russian military atrocities in Ukraine is easily concealed from Russian citizens, and opposition voices are silenced.

Unfortunately, Western governments have only tacitly acknowledged the problem. The US State Department has made quiet references to Russia’s pressure tactics, while the EU has generally condemned Russia’s drive toward digital authoritarianism.

Instead, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have harangued “Big Tech” for being a threat to their own democracies. In the United States, the Department of Justice has approved congressional efforts to break up big tech companies. In the EU, leaders have agreed to major legislation that specifically targets big US tech companies for additional legal burdens. In some cases, this legislation may even help Russia – for example, Russian social media could absorb information about Europeans thanks to new interoperability requirements.

When Western platforms are pushed out of countries where democracy is in decline, others who are quick to abide by repressive laws step in to fill the void. Russians will turn to national platforms like VKontakte and lower quality substitutes, like RuTube or a new Russian version of Instagram. Chinese state-sponsored apps, including TikTok, will gain market share.

In the global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, tech companies are caught in the crossfire. And policymakers may not be able to have it both ways – simultaneously claiming that “Big Tech” is destroying democracy while demanding that corporations be beacons of democratic values.

Dr Alina Polyakova is President and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis.