Putin Widens Effort to Control Russia’s Internet

Russia is escalating its efforts to curtail online freedom, taking new steps toward a draconian state-controlled internet. The authorities are cracking down on workarounds that Russians have been using for access to foreign apps and banned content, including through new laws signed by President Vladimir Putin. Moscow has also been impeding the function of services from U.S. tech companies, like YouTube, that Russians have used for years. At the same time, the Kremlin is building out a domestic ecosystem of easily monitored and censored Russian alternatives to Western tech products. That includes a new state-approved messaging service, MAX, which will come preinstalled by law on all new smartphones sold in Russia starting in September 2025. The idea, experts say, is to migrate more Russians from an open internet dominated by the products of Western tech giants to a censored online ecosystem, where Russians primarily use software under the gaze and influence of the state. The effort has advanced significantly amid wartime repression, but it is unclear how far it will go.