Transnational Digital Authoritarianism: Conceptualising Russian Information Suppression Targeting Online Information Intermediaries

After years of progressively restrictive media and internet policies, Russia greatly intensified its efforts to control information after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Civic and political rights, including press freedom and freedom of expression, have been severely curtailed, while independent media and other critical actors have been forced into exile, joining those that were forced to relocate earlier. All remaining independent media were outlawed, and their websites blocked. In parallel to its extensive domestic repression and censorship, Russia’s digital authoritarianism and efforts to influence and control information extend transnationally to, among others, the EU. The paper seeks to understand this transnational dimension of digital authoritarianism, and where overlaps with foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). Studies of authoritarian strategies for information control beyond borders, including within recent work on FIMI, have focused on mis- and disinformation, as well as have approached these strategies within the framework of hybrid warfare. This paper argues that other forms of FIMI, in particular transnational information suppression aiming to silence voices or narratives in order to strenthen a regime’s position, remain overlooked. Meanwhile, within studies of transnational repression, the role of information dissemination infrastructures as targets and means of repressive actions (as well as the role of, e.g., platform companies in facilitating or resisting such efforts) remains underexplored. The research thus positions itself at the intersection of these fields of study. Foreign information suppression activities may seek to suppress the production, dissemination or salience of information the authoritarian state attempts to silence. Of these, the paper focuses on the information dissemination dimension, which concerns, for example, efforts to block access to online resources or limit the visibility of news content on social media. The paper analyses the efforts, strategies, actors and legislation involved in domestic and transnational suppression of information by Russia that targeting the means of disseminating news. It identifies the legal, communicative, technical and other ways Russia aims to prevent information produced by the activists and journalists-in-exile from reaching audiences in Russia, as well as Russian and other relevant audiences outside of Russia. It also examines the role played in these processes by online intermediaries, such as social media and app stores. The research combines document analysis (legal and policy documents; reports) with semi-structured interviews with relevant respondents, such as editors-in-chief, journalists, IT developers, policy makers, academics, and representatives of human rights organisations that are active in this domain.