NYTIMES (Valerie Hopkins, Paul Sonne and Oleg Matsnev) - A Cat-and-Mouse Game of Russian Internet Restrictions and Evasion
As the Kremlin spends heavily on censorship technology, Russians are scrambling to find new ways to circumvent the limits.
YOUTUBE (The Hill) - State Dept. to launch web portal to bypass European content bans: Reports | RISING
The State Department is developing an online portal that would allow citizens of foreign countries to view content banned by their governments. #FreedomPortal #StateDepartment #VPN
JUSTTHENEWS (Natalia Mittelstadt) - Russia blocks WhatsApp, tells citizens to use state-backed platform Max
“Max is an accessible alternative, a developing messenger, a national messenger,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
ABCNEWS - WhatsApp says Russia has tried to fully block the messaging app
Russia has attempted to fully block WhatsApp as it tightens control of online communication and pushes people toward a state-backed alternative
NYTIMES (Paul Sonne and Oleg Matsnev) - Russia Further Restricts Telegram, Escalating Internet Clampdown
The throttling of the communication app, used by more than 100 million Russians, endangers what remains of the country’s free internet.
NYTIMES (Paul Sonne and Maria Varenikova) - At Ukraine’s Request, Starlink Denies Internet Access to Russian Troops
Moscow’s forces fighting in Ukraine are experiencing outages on the front, Russian military bloggers said, days after Elon Musk said his satellite service had cut them off.
THENATIONALPULSE (William Upton) - How China Uses Porn and a Millions-Strong Bot Army to Censor Social Media:
PULSE POINTSWHAT HAPPENED: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses a five to 10 million-strong bot army to flood X (formerly Twitter) with illicit adverts and pornographic Mandarin language posts to suppress the ability of Chinese speakers to view uncensored news when significant events occur in China.WHO WAS INVOLVED: X (formerly Twitter), X’s head of product […] The post How China Uses Porn and a Millions-Strong Bot Army to Censor Social Media: appeared first on The National Pulse .
PULSE POINTS WHAT HAPPENED: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses a five to 10 million-strong bot army to flood X (formerly Twitter) with illicit adverts and pornographic Mandarin language posts to suppress the ability of Chinese speakers to view uncensored news when significant events occur in China. WHO WAS INVOLVED: X (formerly Twitter), X’s head of product Nikita Bier, the CCP, and X’s Mandarin-speaking users. WHEN & WHERE: The CCP social media bot army was revealed by Bier in a series of posts on X on Friday, January 30, 2026. KEY QUOTE: “The Chinese government floods X search results with porn whenever there is political unrest—to prevent their citizens from finding out real-time information.” — Nikita Bier IMPACT:…Open