Artists under Siege: Deterioration of digital spaces and state-led erasure of dissident voices

Landing laws, black boxes, deep packet inspection – the vocabulary of digital oppression forms a unique ABCs of cyber censorship that artists, intellectuals, and dissidents confront daily. Increasingly repressive government tactics and laws, aimed at targeting the liminal zone of freedom of expression online, have emerged following the exponential growth of, and power wielded by, social media companies and internet service providers (ISPs). 

In February, Russia pressured corporations such as Twitter, TikTok, and Meta (formerly Facebook, Inc), to comply with a new “landing law,” establishing legal entities of these organizations within the country, making their platforms more susceptible to the Russian legal system. Such policies are not new in the global sphere of censorship, but rather complement a string of internet manipulation and targeting of dissident media in the Kremlin cyberspace. Previous reports have analyzed how internet regulators have throttled speeds utilizing a form of deep packet inspection to filter and restrict content. Moreover, the installation of black boxes in the offices of certain companies highlights this clampdown on digital freedoms and liberties, which have seen startling implications for content that may be construed as politically dissident or anti-Russia’s current political system.         

Artists in the region, many of whom come from already marginalized communities, will face devastating sociopolitical and financial precarity as a result of these actions. Despite the numerous political, social, and cultural differences exhibited throughout the region, there is continuity in the legal imposition of censorship against dissidents directly challenging artists, who, through their craft, exhibit the realities and abuses endured within their respective countries. Artists are activists, human rights defenders, cultural rights defenders, and just like any other human being, have political beliefs and opinions. Given the power of art to question social and political constructs, actions such as those in Russia call attention to artistic expression online and how it has increasingly come under attack. In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, dissident Russian artists face an even more severe crackdown on their free expression as the Russian government clamps down viciously on anti-war sentiments. These efforts have included foreign agent laws made to target news outlets and silence dissent that receives support from abroad, to the creation of fake news laws in March of 2022 and amendments used to fine or jail opposition for critiquing the military, among other actions.   

Although not nearly as comprehensive or suppressive as the strategies and technologies used in China, restrictions and arbitrary internet regulation in Russia has resulted in calls from artists, activists, and human rights defenders to resist these new measures. While not reaching the same levels of legal codification and criminalization of certain speech or the extensive blocking of websites by the Chinese firewall system, actions undertaken by Russia are especially alarming due to the precedent they set – namely, the effectiveness afforded by relatively cost-effective equipment and simple vigilance that allows a hybrid regime to curate the dissemination of content in-country. This poses the question: What do these tactics imply for artistic rights worldwide, and what can be done to stop it? 

Addressing this analogy in the global context, one can better understand the implications of internet freedom restrictions for artists and their work. For example, Mai Khôi, otherwise known as the “Lady Gaga of Vietnam,” is an artist who uses the medium of storytelling and songwriting to protest the current government, including broader social commentary on topics such as sexism within the country. Currently in exile after being threatened and evicted in retaliation for her expression, Mai Khôi has faced firsthand the impact of exclusionary government practices, which aim to block her accounts and stop her content from reaching the country. Moreover, recent legislation in Vietnam, such as the Cybersecurity Law of 2019, imposes similar restrictions on Russia, forcing social media companies to comply with takedown requests from the government and limiting dissident voices online. 

In a completely different context, take the case of Jafar Panahi, a prominent Iranian filmmaker who tells the stories of women and people with disabilities, exposing the backdrop of socio-political problems they face in the country. His activism has made him a target of intense government discrimination, censorship, and a 20-year ban from screenwriting, interviewing, or traveling. Moreover, in Iran, the 2009 Computer Crimes Law and other actions have limited internet freedom and intensified arbitrary censorship against artists. 

As seen in these brief examples, such restrictive actions are not isolated incidents but instead inform a global panorama of unjust censorship and the limiting of artistic freedom. Despite these disheartening policies, initiatives such as DDA and the  Safety Guide for Artists, published by PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) in 2021, promote tangible plans of action, creating networks of support and resiliency against the increasing degradation of artistic expression online. Whether the censorship comes from governments, the platforms themselves, or other entities, the conclusion stays the same: we must support artists' ability to express themselves and be agents for change, promoting their voices despite the utterly dehumanizing circumstances they may find themselves in.