In countries like Russia, internet freedom depends in many ways on the multinational online platforms. They have been made scapegoats recently everywhere across western democracies — and for cause! — but in the "non-free" world they still could make a big difference. Authoritarian governments are issuing their legal requirements which often contradict human rights. Governments demand decryption and surveillance, censorship and persecution. But what if platforms decide not to cave to these requirements? What if they choose to protect their users’ rights, not following the path of the “legal compliance” blindly? Russian experience provides an important lesson: this works!
We’d like to share and discuss this experience, and to get platform representatives involved.