Dr. Tetyana Lokot, Dublin City University
Bio: Dr. Tetyana Lokot is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University. Her research and writing focus on the interplay between digital media, people, politics, and spaces. She has written about activism, protests, internet freedom and mediated conflict on the Russian-speaking and Cyrillic internet. Her forthcoming book on digital media and protest in Ukraine and Russia will be published in 2020.
Abstract: Over the past decade, the Russian state has adopted new laws and amendments aimed at combatting extremism and protecting civility and security on the internet. In practice, these laws are ambiguous and are often arbitrarily and selectively applied, turning them into a tool of censorship, surveillance, and political persecution. RuNet activists and users are visibly responding to the crackdown with digital literacy campaigns, extensive documentation and open ridicule of state pressure, and public online support for those already repressed. Such strategic visibility practices can be viewed as resistance to the regime of “networked authoritarianism”, as citizens struggle to preserve space for free expression online.