Posted by Aleks Bednarski.
It seems as if the entire world can’t catch a break lately. As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic began to make immense improvements and things started going back to normal, another huge event just had to come directly after. As most people know, Russia is currently invading Ukraine, which is not only a threat to Ukraine, but also to the entire world. If Vladimir Putin continues on this path of invading European countries, a world war could very likely take place. This article was written by Ann M. Simmons, which discusses how Russia has placed a fake news law that gives immense prison time for anyone writing what Russian authorities consider to be false information about the invasion of Ukraine. Russia has also entirely banned facebook in the country, a quite interesting decision that can bring up a variety of questions.
First, it is important to analyze the law itself. The law states that “anyone found guilty of knowingly disseminating false information and data about the use of Russia’s armed forces would be punished by a prison sentence of up to 15 years or a fine of up to 1.5 million rubles, equivalent to about $14,000.” Russia also then decides to ban facebook as well, as if the fake news law was not already fishy enough. It must be questioned as to why Russia is doing this, and the answer is quite obvious to the public eye. They are lying. The citizens of Russia are being hypnotized into thinking that nothing is wrong and their country would never do such a thing to a neighboring country.
In my opinion, banning facebook and implementing fake news laws makes it only more obvious to the public eye that Russia is lying to its own people.
They are not just doing this to look good, but are lying to them in order to prevent a massive uprise within the country. Citizens of Russia are beginning to peel the mask off the Russian government and realize what they are actually doing. As the government began realizing this, they did everything in their power to prevent more from spreading inside Russia, thus why they banned facebook and passed this new law. Although, it is almost impossible for Russia to stop their people from realizing the truth, as there are so many other social media platforms available to them. Overall, the citizens will find out, and a Russian revolution is inevitable.
Aleks is a finance major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2025.