But only because of a little known law that Russia is quietly trying to enforce. Back in 2014, the Kremlin passed a law that would eventually allow said Kremlin to collect social media users’ information by the masses when it wants. The law, uh, was originally meant to ensure the privacy and safety of all Russians and their information.
But, that same law, was later discovered to actually be a ploy by the Kremlin to crush online anonymity and demand that digital monikers be unmasked. By doing so, Russia, would soon be able to know (and by all means literally) who is who and whom is writing what. Opposition to the law has been strong.
So here’s what it means. Linkedin has been banned in Russia for some time, essentially, for refusal to turn over user information. Something, that, the company once said “was very important to us and therefore we will not turn it over to the Kremlin”.
This is where Facebook comes in. Being the world’s largest social network, Facebook, contains information on just about every living person in a developed country no matter what region of the world they are in. Russia wants a piece of that information. But for reasons that still partially remain unclear. Opposition leaders claim that such a law is Putin’s way of trampling on anyone anti-Kremlin, while others, uh, say that such a law is “much needed in a social media age”.
The law pretty much surrounds the user data belonging to Russian citizens. Originally, the Kremlin claimed that the law was meant to demand that social media services that contain such information periodically base their servers in Moscow. Something neither Linkedin nor Facebook has ever done.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the story, although, one Russian official did tell the Daily News on the country’s only main social media network that “They’re watching because the opposition is growing”.
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