Looks like “post-Soviet Russia” isn’t actually post-Soviet Russia.
Russia’s three-year-old media agency Roskomnadzor announced that it is now illegal to publish any Internet meme that depicts any public figure in a way other than his “personality.”
“These ways of using [celebrities’ images] violate the laws governing personal data and harm the honor, dignity and business of public figures,” reads the policy announcement from Roskomnadzor.
From the Washington Post:
[Russia has taken] a series of steps to increase government control of the Internet in recent months. Just last August, Russia enacted a law that forced all bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers to register with the Roskomnadzor, basically outlawing anonymous blogs. Earlier in the year, Russia approved a law that lets Roskomnadzor unilaterally block Web sites without explanation; the sites of prominent Putin critics were among the first to go dark.
With that in mind and in the good ‘ole spirit of the USA, here are some of our favorite Putin memes, which probably wouldn’t go over so well in “post-Soviet” Russia:
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