Russian social media giant evades hard questions about privacy failures · Global Voices
Screenshot of the Russian social network Vkontakte's 404 page.
After news broke of VKontakte users getting fined and jailed for resharing memes , the Russian social media giant has announced some changes to its privacy policy. Activists, however, remain skeptical as t he company has been catching flak for readily supplying information to Russian authorities on their users when requested.
An nouncing the new privacy measures on August 13, Vkontakte’s managing director <PERSON> responded to the public outcry by assuring the company would introduce new steps to protect users’ privacy. He explained:
ВКонтакте как крупнейшая коммуникационная платформа обязана выполнять российские законы и содействовать поиску настоящих преступников, но мы решительно выступаем против необоснованных преследований за публикации в Интернете
As the largest communication platform, VKontakte is obligated to comply with Russian laws and help find real criminals, but we are categorically against groundless persecutions for publications on the Internet.
Currently, any user can share a post which then appears in the user’s feed, thereby increasing the post’s reach. S everal infamous prosecutions for meme-sharing are based on this very function — sharing someone else's offensive meme have been grounds enough for prosecution. Once a post is shared, a list of everyone who shares it is visible. <PERSON> says this list will soon only be visible to the original author.
This suggests that Russian authorities were using the list to track users’ posting activities. 534
However, given VKontakte’s demonstrated willingness to hand over this information, it remains to be seen how this new measure will protect users from prosecution.
Another proposed change is the ability to make one’s profile private and accessible only to friends. Right now, anyone logged on to VKontakte can view various aspects of another’s profile such as timelines, regardless of privacy settings.
While some users welcome these changes, others feel that it is too little, too late and that it sidesteps the issue of providing information to authorities behind the scenes. Commenters on VKontakte and Twitter blasted <PERSON>’s announcement:
«ВКонтакте» анонсировала «самую важную реформу приватности за последние несколько лет», которую готовят к запуску в течение месяца. Профиль можно будет оставить открытым только для друзей и ментов.
— <PERSON> (@athawld) 13 августа 2018 г.
“VKontakte” announced “the most important privacy reforms in recent years”, which they’re prepping to release in a month. It’ll be possible to make profiles open only to friends and cops.
VKontakte employees have not been spared in the blowback. When one of their designers tweeted an innocuous anecdote about his mother, users seized upon it to shame him for working at the company. 880