Vkontakte announces new privacy features to combat Russia's expanding war on ‘extremist’ Internet content

Administrators at Vkontakte, Russia’s most popular social network, are speaking out against the “groundless persecution” of Internet users. In a public statement, Vkontakte managing director Andrey Rogozov said, “Law enforcement agencies often fail to take into account context, not distinguishing between posts and reposts, and treating images with questionable jokes like incitements to dangerous crimes.” Rogozov says the website will soon introduce new privacy settings, allowing users to hide their entire profiles entirely from everyone except their approved friends.

In recent years (and especially in recent weeks), police officers have opened criminal cases against Russian Internet users, typically charging individuals with hate speech, extremism, offending religious views, or propagating Nazism. The vast majority of these criminal cases are filed against users of Vkontakte, which surrenders virtually all personal data, whenever requested by law enforcement, according to human rights activists. On August 6, Vkontakte’s parent company, Mail.ru, publicly condemned these prosecutions.