Navalny wants tech giants to allow their ad targeting tools to be used to get information out to ordinary Russians about what is happening in the war in Ukraine.
Russian citizens are at risk of lengthy jail terms if they post anti-war comments themselves because of the harsh laws Putin's regime has implemented.
If Western ad targeting tools were diverted and used to counter Russian propaganda, there would be a certain symmetry to the situation. Allowing one-way speech would likely invite counter criticizm that the West was trying to undermine its own commitment to free speech.
The Kremlin has already retaliated against the tech platforms by blocking access to Facebook and other sites, and imposing fines against them.
In the wake of the invasion, both Meta and Google stopped selling ads in Russia. It's not clear if they have stopped accepting payment outside Russia for ads that are targeted inside the country, but they have imposed a policy which blocks ads that are related to sensitive events.
It would be impossible if Navalny's suggestion was counter to that policy. That hasn't stopped Putin's bravest critic from asking.
Navalny began by describing this as a thread, and then he went on to lay out his thinking and make a direct appeal to both Meta and the Western political leaders. Informational.
There isn't a lot of support for the war with Ukraine in Russia. This is a lie of the Kremlin, he writes, suggesting that it is almost impossible for normal people to speak out against Putin given they face up to 15 years in jail for using the word.
A man was arrested recently in Moscow after standing in the street with a copy of War and Peace.
5/31 И таких уголовных дел десятки.
В Москве арестован человек за то, что стоял на улице, держа в руках книгу Толстого “Война и мир” pic.twitter.com/KXZAYUp5OR
April 14, 2022.
The majority of Russians have a distorted idea of what is happening in Ukraine. There are almost no casualties among our military.
Navalny suggests flooding Western social media platforms and messaging apps with Russians to counter Kremlin propaganda.
200 million impressions per day is enough to hit every Russian Internet user twice. There are stories, posts and pre-rolls. In cities and villages. He suggests fleshing out a scenario in which Western ad platforms agree to be weaponized against Putin.
13/31 Нам нужна реклама. Много рекламы. Огромная национальная антивоенная кампания начнется с кампании рекламной.
April 14, 2022.
For his idea to work, Navalny says a nationwide ad campaign is needed, and also targeted ads specifically, with the Kremlin critic writing that when Google and Meta stopped selling ads inside Russia it seriously complicated the work of the opposition.
We need to stir up opponents and doubters. It worked when we could give targeted ads. We gave battle to Putin's propaganda and won, he says, suggesting that opposition election wins were made possible with the help of targeted ads.
In the last elections to the State Duma, our candidates won almost all the districts of Moscow and St. Petersburg, but were stopped only by large-scale falsifications. It works in Moscow and throughout the country. Checked.
He argues that stopping the war is more important than an election, and then concedes that the idea of weaponizing speech via adtech is difficult.
I understand that in a democratic system, the authorities can't order either of them to advertise.
The price of sending a lot of anti-war propaganda would be the same as a single shot from a Javelin anti-tank missile, according to Navalny.
At press time neither company had responded to our request for a response to Navalny's suggestion.
The Kremlin seems to be wise to the risk that targeted advertising could be weaponized against it, given its own, well- documented ad targeting propaganda.
In February, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, put out a warning about false information being spread via online ads. It warned that it would block any Internet resources that hosted such ads.
The Kremlin has not moved to block the video-sharing website, as some had feared, despite earlier bans on Facebook andInstagram.
Instagram is now blocked in Russia
When other Western services have been blocked in Russia, it shows how much power the video sharing platform has for the Kremlin, which can use it to spread its propaganda.
After the EU banned the distribution of Russian state media channels, including Sputnik, in Europe, it left the channels running inside Russia. The policy to block the channels globally was expanded on March 11.
In the last few weeks, the public has become aware of a steady stream of public ire targeted at YouTube in relation to a number of channel suspensions.
One of the chambers of the Parliament in the Russian Federation is the State Duma. The blocking of the state body's channel on the video hosting hinders the dissemination of information and free access to it, and the regulators accused the company of adhering to anti-competitive practices.
In a press release dated April 7 of this year, the regulator says that since April 2020 it has identified around 60 incidents of YouTube hosting Russian content.
In the last few weeks, the regulator has begun administrative proceedings against the company for not removing certain content from the site which the Kremlin wants to purge.
The Kremlin hasn't moved to shutter domestic access to the platform entirely, which suggests it continues to play a strategically important role for distributing Putin's propaganda domestically.
In his thread, Navalny doesn't accuse the internet giant of allowing it to be a conduit for Kremlin propaganda. He is trying to encourage the tech giant to sign up for a cyber war against the Kremlin and that might be his idea of being tactful.
He criticized the role of Russian tech giant Yandex in helping spread Putin's messages, and dubbed the local search giant the main propagandist of the war.
The main source of information for 41% of the population is the news from their main page.
8/31 Не забывайте о том, что главным пропагандистам войны сейчас выступает совсем не телевизор, а российский IT-гигант @yandex. Новости с их главной страницы (а там сплошная бессовестная ложь) – основной источник информации для 41% населения. pic.twitter.com/lhGB511R2Z
April 14, 2022.
Sources close to Yandex claim that its services are being used by Russians to circumvent state propaganda by helping them find international media coverage and access opposition media.
The company's News product plays an important role in the amplification of Kremlin propaganda and is controlled by the Russian state through a licensing regime.
Last month it was revealed that Yandex is looking to exit the media business by seeking a buyer for its News and Zen products. Our sources said that another local tech giant, VK, was a leading contender to acquire the products.
One key consideration is whether Yandex will actually remove the News product from its homepage post-sale, which, if it does, could potentially put a major dent in the Kremlin's propaganda machine by removing a go-to news source for many Russians. There would be no change to Russians being shown a prominent feed of disinformation if Yandex continued to display the News feed on its homepage.
The Kremlin will need to sign off on any sale or operational changes. The restructuring of the tech giant increased government influence.
In the case of News, the IT giant has no choice but to abide by local media licensing laws.
The removal of a tactical voting app created by Navalny's organization from their mobile app stores in Russia was blamed on local laws.
Russia’s war hits Yandex, the ‘Google of Russia’
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