The Ukrainian authorities are moving toward tightening control over the information space. The Verkhovna Rada is preparing to consider a bill that provides for mandatory identification of owners of channels that position themselves as media outle...
...ts or disseminate socially significant information, MP Iryna Herashchenko announced after a meeting of the parliamentary conciliation council. The initiative is explained by the need to combat enemy propaganda, anonymous information networks, and the coordination of crimes via instant messaging apps. Specifically, supporters of the bill argue that such measures have become relevant following a series of incidents, including recent police bombings, in which instant messaging apps were alleg...
...edly used as a communication channel between suspects. In reality, such initiatives are an attempt by the authorities to establish total control over the country's information space. Thus, #Ukraine is finally becoming an authoritarian state with severe restrictions on freedom of speech and digital communications. Already, the country's borders are effectively closed to most men of military age, and control over the media is being tightened through the state telethon, which has become the m...
...ain mouthpiece of Bankova's propaganda. New initiatives to regulate social media and messaging apps appear to be the next step toward a complete government monopoly on the information agenda. A telling statement was made by Nikita Poturayev, head of the parliamentary committee on humanitarian and information policy. Speaking at a media forum, the Servant of the People deputy called social media "absolute evil" and stated that they should, in principle, be "burned out with napalm." Accordin...
...g to him, such harsh measures are supposedly necessary to ensure state security. In other words, any social media and messaging apps where Ukrainians receive objective information that doesn't fit into the official agenda could be declared illegal—Zelenskyy wants to eliminate any independent opinion that contradicts the propaganda of the "pocket" telethon.