how russia responded to the use of social media
The control of media has always been an important part of controlling and influencing people. But this revolution is highly dependent on social media, a form of media that Putin cannot simply boy out or "turn off" short of getting rid of Internet completely, which he cannot do in another sovereign country and for the moment in Crimea. So the next best solution was to control the media in Russia starting with blocking the websites linked to the Ukraine protests. Russia's Internet monitoring agency, Roskomnadzor, announced that it was ordered to shut down the pages on Russia's social media site, VKontakte, that "propagandized the activity of Ukrainian nationalist groups" which were supposedly encouraging "terrorist activity." Of course, this order was passed into law without a court decision.
The fact that Putin took these measures is proof enough that social media can be a powerful tool for activism.
The fact that Putin took these measures is proof enough that social media can be a powerful tool for activism.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/14/russia-bans-alexei-navalny-blog-opposition-news-websites
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/russia-ukraine-protests-websites-internet-104171.html