Russia blocks SoundCloud for spreading 'fake news'

So reports Reuters news agency (1), quoting Russian news agency Interfax.

Censorship in Russia

Russia is pulling out all the stops to take complete control of news coverage of the war in Ukraine. On Russian state media, only the Kremlin's story is heard, about the successes of the Russian army on the front. For example, soldiers withdraw not because they are overwhelmed by the Ukrainian army with Western tanks and weapons, but to "regroup" and take up new positions that are more defensible.

Obviously, President Putin is doing everything he can to bend the narrative about the war to his will. Anyone who voices a different voice or has a dissenting opinion about the situation in the neighboring country is guilty of spreading fake news. And that carries stiff penalties: critics and protesters risk imprisonment for up to 15 years. The censorship in Russia (2) in of an unprecedented magnitude.

SoundCloud offline in Russia because of 'fake news'

To still tell a dissenting voice about the war in Ukraine, newsmakers used SoundCloud. The audio platform is mainly used by musicians and podcast makers to share their songs and podcasts with the rest of the world. Lately, the platform has been used to tell stories about the situation in Ukraine.

And that goes against the grain of the Kremlin. So the government has ordered Roskomnadzor, Russia's telecom watchdog, to take SoundCloud offline. According to the official reading of the Russian Openbaar Ministerie 's office, access to the service has been blocked because it is spreading fake news and disinformation about the "special operation" in Ukraine. This includes "attacks on civilians, civilian infrastructure and numerous civilian casualties at the hands of Russian soldiers."

"Roskomnadzor has restricted access to the SoundCloud service in connection with the posting of material containing false information about the nature of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine," Russia's Interfax news agency said, according to Reuters.

VPN services may soon be banned in Russia

SoundCloud is not the first service to go dark in Russia. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia blocked Facebook, Instagram and Google News, among others. And it may not stop there. Russia expert Hubert Smeets said in an interview with BNR last summer that VPN services may be banned in Russia "within a few months" (3).

Since 2012, Russia has maintained a list of websites that Russian citizens are not allowed to visit. This list includes several VPN providers (4), including NordVPN (5), Surfshark (6), Private Internet Access (PIA) (7) and ExpressVPN (8). "Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier about this not wanting to ban it because he himself uses a VPN. It could well be conceivable that this will happen within the next few months. Then you are pretty isolated as a critical Russian," Smeets explained.

In June 2021, Roskomnadzor imposed a ban (9) on Opera VPN (10) and VyprVPN (11) because these providers were classified as "threats. Namely, they offered access to websites with so-called "banned content. Are you vacationing in Russia and still want to be able to access all your favorite websites and social media? There are several VPNs to bypass Russian censorship (12).

Should you have no success with that, you can install the Tor web browser (13). This browser allows you to browse the Internet anonymously without a VPN connection. Finally, you can look into installing a free VPN (14) to hide your location and Internet activities.

1. https://www.reuters.com/technology/russia-blocks-soundcloud-citing-spread-false-information-ifx-2022-10-02/

2. https://www.vpngids.nl/unblock/censuur/internetcensuur-rusland/

3. https://www.vpngids.nl/nieuws/vpns-mogelijk-binnenkort-verboden-in-rusland/

4. https://www.vpngids.nl/vpn-info/wat-is-een-vpn/

5. https://www.vpngids.nl/reviews/nordvpn-vpn-provider/

6. https://www.vpngids.nl/reviews/surfshark/

7. https://www.vpngids.nl/reviews/private-internet-access-pia-vpn-provider/

8. https://www.vpngids.nl/reviews/expressvpn-vpn-provider/

9. https://www.vpngids.nl/nieuws/russische-toezichthouder-verbiedt-operavpn-en-vyprvpn/

10. https://www.vpngids.nl/reviews/opera-vpn/

11. https://www.vpngids.nl/reviews/vyprvpn-vpn-provider/

12. https://www.vpngids.nl/beste-vpn/beste-vpn-voor-rusland-omzeil-de-russische-censuur/

13. https://www.vpngids.nl/privacy/anoniem-browsen/wat-is-tor/

14. https://www.vpngids.nl/beste-vpn/gratis-vpn/