[RE]

NBCNEWS.COM • 2026-03-31

As Putin takes Russia off the grid, there are growing signs of discontent

“Putin really wants every Russian citizen to feel alone and rejected,” IT specialist Alexander Isavnin told NBC News. He was among those who tried — and failed — to get approval for rare public protests over the weekend as an internet blackout fuels frustration.

I wonder how all this is really playing out?  Hard  to imagine how a city like Moscow would function with mobile internet shut down.  Imagine NY or LA if it was shut down.  People would go nuts. lol

RE

The whole thing does not go down.  Big brother decides who can play.  By cutting off horizontal communication (person-to-person via apps like Signal or Telegram), the state forces citizens back onto state-controlled platforms.

This does not apply to America.  America is already on state-controlled platforms with the US government having full server access.  much of the deep-packet inspection (DPI) hardware used by Russia to censor the internet was originally developed or sold by Western companies (like Cisco or Procera).  In America the control is invisible and great pains are taken so the American public does not learn that they are herded like sheep.

Or do we want to pretend that all the platforms over which regular people have zero control are democratic?

Fuck, how many Americans even know what shadow-banning is.  Not many.

CDT.ORG • 2022-04-26

Shedding Light on Shadowbanning

Sex workers, conservative bloggers, Black Lives Matter activists, Indian farmers, trans artists, Palestinian protesters, plus-sized influencers.  These are just some of the many social media users who believe their online posts are covertly being hidden or taken down, otherwise known as “shadowbanned,” by social media companies.