Abstract
In the last five years, since the introduction of a new regulatory framework for the control of online content, the Russian government has blocked tens of thousands of websites. This blocking has become a major censorship vehicle for the state. As existing literature on internet censorship in Russia relies mostly on individual cases, we still do not fully understand the trends in the control of online content based on aggregate enforcement data. As the first step in this direction, this study empirically investigates one aspect of Russia’s internet control system: blocking online content based on court decisions. Our analysis of relevant court practices identifies the top three content categories on which prosecutors and courts have focused and the significant increase in prosecutors’ appetite to block increasing content categories. We conclude that the actual enforcement of the Blacklist law went far beyond its original intent, which was to protect children from online exploitation and harm.
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