Leonid Bershidsky writes: U.S.-based social networks have been credited with helping protesters in many countries topple oppressive regimes, or at least try. Governments have learned a lot from the Arab Spring and other such protests, and social networks have turned into mature companies that must, by definition, maintain good relations with the authorities.
Facebook proved it Saturday by blocking an announcement inviting Muscovites to attend a January rally in support of anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, who is about to be sentenced to a long prison term on trumped-up charges.
Ever since Navalny emerged as the most credible leader of Moscow’s failed “Snow Revolution” of 2011 and 2012, he has been hounded by Russia’s law enforcement agencies.
Last year, when he was sentenced on trmped on charges in a lumber case, between 5,000 and 10,000 Muscovites assembled opposite Red Square to demand his release. This time, Navalny’s supporters are taking no chances and trying to organize a rally for Jan. 15, when the sentence is due to be announced. About 12,500 people indicated they would attend before Facebook blocked the announcement for Russia-based accounts and, as users later reported, even for some people based overseas if they listed a Russian city as their birthplace.
The move was a godsend to Volkov and other Navalny sympathizers. The rally became a kind of international cause celebre after Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, tweeted about the blockage:
Twitter refused to block tweets announcing the Jan. 15 rally. It merely forwarded the authorities’ complaints to the posters. It would not do for Facebook to appear more pliable than its competitor. Second, both Twitter and Facebook have audiences of a little more than 10 million in Russia, a tiny share of their worldwide user base, and their revenues from the Russian market hardly even register on the corporate ledgers.
None of these three considerations would even have come up if Facebook hadn’t blocked the original event announcement. What if Facebook is doing significant business in a country, its authorities have not fallen foul of Washington, and Twitter is, for reasons of its own, complying with requests for the removal of certain content? Then will it be possible to organize a protest using the platform?
Opposition activists everywhere must now assume that they need more reliable ways to organize online.
As for the U.S.-based Internet companies, after Edward Snowden’s reports of their cooperation with U.S. intelligence, they are already widely mistrusted.
