Livejournal bans political appeals

On 4 April Livejournal released an updated user agreement that forbids users from posting “political solicitation materials” without specific permission from LiveJournal.

RuNet Echo notes that the new user agreement exists in both Russian and English, although it is stated in the latter that the Russian document is only one which is legally binding. Lawyers have also pointed out that “political solicitation” is not a phrase that is in use in Russian federal law, with the closest concept being “campaign agitation”.

This move comes after the company, which since 2007 has been owned by Russian company SUP Media, moved its servers to Russia earlier this year to comply with the recently adopted “anti-terrorism” law that has been nicknamed “the Big Brother’s law”.

Anton Nossik, a former advisor to SUP Media, said that “LJ’s servers have moved ‘closer’ not to its authors and readers, but to those who want to monitor them”.

Experts note that the blogging platform is especially popular in Russia among oppositional politicians and journalists.

Source: RuNet Echo