Four days into the war in Ukraine, Russia\u2019s expansive surveillance and censorship apparatus was already hard at work.<\/p>\n
Roughly 800 miles east of Moscow, authorities in the Republic of Bashkortostan, one of Russia\u2019s 85 regions, were busy tabulating the mood of comments in social media messages. They marked down YouTube posts that they said criticized the Russian government. They noted the reaction to a local protest.<\/p>\n
Then they compiled their findings. One report about the \u201cdestabilization of Russian society\u201d pointed to an editorial from a news site deemed \u201coppositional\u201d to the government that said President Vladimir V. Putin was pursuing his own self-interest by invading Ukraine. A dossier elsewhere on file detailed who owned the site and where they lived.<\/p>\n
Another Feb. 28 dispatch, titled \u201cPresence of Protest Moods,\u201d warned that some had expressed support for demonstrators and \u201cspoke about the need to stop the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s Roskomnadzor has morphed from a sleepy telecom regulator into a full-blown intelligence agency, closely monitoring websites, social media and news outlets. https:\/\/t.co\/XkxVeNuNAx<\/a><\/p>\n — NYT Business (@nytimesbusiness) September 23, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n