The federal body in charge of controlling the media posted this note to Vkontakte, the most prevalent Russian social media site, on Monday:
“Violation of legislation on personal data in relation to public figures includes use of the photo of a public person to impersonate popular Internet memes, unrelated to the identity of the “celebrity.” These methods of using of personal data violate the requirements of the legislation on personal data and discredit honor, dignity and the business reputation of public figures.”
It can easily be assumed that the “celebrity” in question is Vladimir Putin.
Roskomnadzor also said that if Vkontakte fails to take down the memes, they will pursue legal action.
I don’t know if you could say that the censoring of memes per se is a rights violation, but it does show a larger pattern of the restriction of speech going on in Russia right now. So I guess sharing Putin memes is a form of protest? Oh well, here’s some more now-illegal pieces of media.
Let it be clear that I do not enjoy or condone the use of memes. This has been a PSA. Thank you.
Since my blog is now officially illegal in Russia.. Let’s post some memes shall we? 🙂
ringsabel 