Russia: Digital Iron Curtain Falls on Internet Freedom Protection Day

By Human Rights Watch

Click to expand Image People use their smartphones while riding an escalator in the Moscow metro, Russia, on February 12, 2026. © 2026 Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images (Berlin, March 12, 2026) – Russian authorities have escalated their internet censorship efforts over the past month, Human Rights Watch said today, a day marked by free speech defenders as World Day Against Cyber Censorship. The government has blocked the most popular social media platform in Russia, coercing users to switch to a state-approved application, as well as circumvention tools. “State control over internet…

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