Russian authorities and multinational corporations have created a digital iron curtain between Russia and the rest of the world. No more independent information online is available for the Russian people.
In just a couple of days, Russia was cut off from the Western open internet, one of the crucial components of Russia’s global integration. Social media is no longer operating in Russia. Facebook has been shut off. Twitter has been partially blocked, the future of YouTube is uncertain while TikTok and Netflix have ceased operations in the country.
Big tech companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Cisco, and Samsung, among others, have reduced or eliminated their presence in Russia. Even online video games such as Minecraft have been discontinued.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at office@jewishbusinessnews.com.
Thank you.
Russian telecom businesses operating mobile phone networks have lost access to new materials and services from Cisco, Nokia, and Ericsson.
And, after Taiwan world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors suspended shipments to Russia, Local companies have failed to establish new microprocessors Yandex, the search engine which is more popular than Google in Russia and the largest internet company, warned it may possibly fail on its loans as a result of the crisis.
Russia has become a walled-off digital state comparable to China and Iran, which closely manage the internet and restrict international websites and criticism.
The internet is merely one aspect of Russia’s growing isolation behind the iron curtain, following its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
In addition, the country has been largely isolated from the global banking system, the worldwide access to the country’s oil and natural gas reserves is in doubt, foreign airlines have been denied access to Russian airspace.
Putin’s digital isolation benefits his interests. It enables him to tighten his grip on Journalists, website operators, and others who face 15 years in prison under a censorship rule passed last week for posting “misinformation” about Ukraine’s war.
