VKontakte blocks popular misogynist group in Russia

The Russian social network VKontakte has blocked a private community known as “Men’s State” (Muzhskoe Gosudarstvo) for inciting violent acts. According to the website TJournal, the misogynist group had roughly 160,000 members when administrators shut it down. About 4,000 members have since migrated to a reserve community page. Creator Vladislav Pozdnyakov has described the community’s ideology as “national-patriarchy.” 

In 2018, Pozdnyakov was sentenced to two years of probation for extremism for sharing Internet content that incited hatred against women. A year later, the sentence was overturned. 

In 2019, four members of Men’s State were imprisoned for bomb making and plotting to attack outdoor markers selling naswar (a powdered tobacco snuff popular with Central Asians). 

Earlier this year, members of Men’s State orchestrated the harassment of women who appeared in an adult film and then threatened journalist Zalina Marshenkulova when she defended the women.