So, about @meduzaproject, the best and just about the last “major” independent news media in Russian. The government has just designated it a “foreign agent” as a way to starve it of advertising and/or fine it to death. But there’s an upside!

Normally I feel wary giving to Rus media because foreign $$ can be used against them. Well, now it can’t — it’s a “foreign agent!” So I signed up for a monthly donation on par with what one pays for NYT. US media peeps, PLEASE CONSIDER DOING THE SAME. https://support.meduza.io/ 

Meduza does not exist in a vacuum — its part of *our* news ecosystem. It does stories with @buzzfeed, gets cited (and, ahem, undercredited) in @nytimes, and its legwork is a part of almost every good Western news piece about Russia. It also has its own Eng presence: @meduza_en

Forgot to tell you the most ludicrous thing. Meduza's posts in any media are now forced to include a ritual recitation of "the following is created by an entity functioning as a foreign agent" etc. I wouldn't even be able to fit the whole thing into a tweet - WHICH IS THE POINT

If they slip up and don't include this caveat in even ONE post, this gives the regulating body, Roskomnadzor, all the basis it needs to block the site entirely. A sterling example of modern Russia's ways: de facto censorship with an almost sadistic sliver of plausible deniability