Russia restricts access to Google News – Le Monde

Since the morning of Thursday, March 24, Russian Internet users have had great difficulty accessing Google News, Google’s press article aggregation service. Roskomnadzor, the authority responsible in particular for Internet censorship, explained in a statement sent to Russian press agencies that it had decided to “restrict access” to Google News in the country, a decision taken at the request of from the Russian prosecutor’s office. The media regulator accuses Google News of having allowed “access to numerous publications and content containing false information (…) on the special military operation in Ukraine”, thus using the terms chosen by the Kremlin to designate its invasion. “We have confirmed that some people are having difficulty accessing the Google News app and site in Russia, and this is not due to technical difficulties on our end,” a Google spokesperson explained. Data from the Open Observatory of Network Interference, an organization dedicated to detecting Internet censorship operations, confirms that News.google.com has been very difficult to access from Russia since March 24. The first time that a Google service is blocked This is the first time that a Google service has been affected by restrictive measures from the Russian state, which has already taken steps to block Instagram or Facebook. Russian justice has also just judged the activities of these two social networks as “extremist”. According to many observers, the Youtube video service, widely used in Russia, could be next on the list. In recent days, Roskomnadzor has repeatedly demanded that YouTube restore deleted channels, calling the platform “a tool of anti-Russian information warfare”. On March 19, the authority thus accused the video site of the “censorship” of numerous accounts, including that of the RBC media, the Perviy Kanal television channel or the Ria Novosti press agency. “Once again, we urge Google to end any restrictions on Youtube with respect to Russian media, to ensure unhindered access to information, in accordance with applicable Russian law,” Roskomnadzor warned on March 19. . Read also Article reserved for our subscribers War in Ukraine: with sanctions and retaliatory measures, the threat of a “digital iron curtain” in Russia Le Monde