Unfortunately, the era of open protests is over. It ended when the liberal public began to protest actively against election fraud that brought the “almost eternal president” to power, and when the protests in the capital were not supported by the whole of Russia. The outcome is clear: instead of a living civil society — total propaganda on TV, in the media and online; instead of public debate — war; instead of the right to disagree — censorship, blocks, and punishment for any dissent.

And against the background of mass bans, a sense of hopelessness is especially sharp: everything that only yesterday still felt normal — rallies, public statements, a few independent media outlets, relatively free distribution of information — is now either impossible or almost instantly shut down.

Now it’s the messengers’ turn: they are being blocked and slowed down. But civil society in Russia does not want to surrender — and shows almost impossible activity where it hasn’t yet been completely sealed off. When demonstrations are impossible and the free flow of information in the media is extinguished almost immediately, what remains are symbols. That’s why people are forced to turn to things that formally cannot be labeled “extremism,” because they are built into the very infrastructure of the internet and data transmission protocols. Not slogans, not party symbols — but signs that live inside addresses and identifiers. For example, the @ symbol, which has been used for decades in e-mail and digital addresses: try banning it — and you’d have to ban half of communication itself.

And while it’s still possible, names and nicknames with certain symbols are one of the few ways to feel a sense of community and say: “we exist.”

Since the beginning of the year, internet restrictions have been getting tougher. Even Telegram has reportedly been partially slowed down — users increasingly complain about slow media downloads. The Federation Council has already confirmed new measures regarding the messenger.

🌟 In August, we launched a campaign to defend a free internet and suggested using the @ symbol at the end of your profile name as a sign of protest. New initiatives within this campaign are being prepared. We are not revealing the details yet, but it’s important for us to hear as many real stories as possible.

We have prepared a survey to understand how restrictions actually affect your life and work: how they have prevented you from communicating, studying, or earning money; what you were unable to do because of blocks and temporary internet shutdowns; what losses and difficulties you faced.

💡 Take the survey: https://forms.gle/JL9FdM5BhDToL4za7

It’s impossible to cancel all restrictions instantly. But it is both possible and necessary to act — to minimize them within the law — and we will push for real change.

Source: Ekaterina Duntsova’s Telegram channel — https://t.me/Duntsova/846