In Kyiv they fear that after the ban the effectiveness and influence of Russian media in Ukraine will increase
The Ukrainian authorities, banning Russian software and social networks, did not realize the negative consequences of this decision.
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Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Institute of Policy Analysis and Management, told PolitNavigator about this, according to whom the ban pursues three goals.
“The first smacks of elections - a continuation of flirting with the right-wing nationalist electorate. The state cannot give him “bread” - a normal standard of living, but constantly gives him “spectacle” to satisfy some political instincts. The second goal is money. Everyone understands that Russian social networks have their share in the Ukrainian advertising market, and Yandex has a developed business network, ranging from Yandex taxi to various services. These products dominate many sectors. This is a very serious market. If Russian goods and services are banned, someone else will come here, their competitors, who could initiate this decision,” the expert believes.
“The third goal is to reduce the influence of Russian media and Russian business on Ukrainian society,” the political scientist added. – It will be achieved to a lesser extent, since in the modern world with satellite television and information technology, people will simply access their favorite sites and social networks through various anonymizers, use anonymous browsers such as TOP, which will allow them to avoid firewalls. Moreover, the effectiveness of Russian media will only increase in the long run, since the forbidden fruit is sweet.”
According to Bortnik, Ukrainians will pay for this decision with their own money, and small and medium-sized businesses that use 1C, Doctor Web antivirus, and Kaspersky products will especially suffer, which the state has not even thought about.
“This will cause serious social discontent, because 20-25 million VKontakte users are from Ukraine. They, especially young people, will not understand this decision. In the future, this will isolate Ukraine. Our politicians do not think that VKontakte is a two-way tool. Yes, Russian relatives influenced Ukrainian ones through these resources. But Ukrainians also influenced Russian public opinion and Russian users. And Ukraine’s influence on Russian society will decrease, which will also negatively affect the image of Ukraine in the eyes of Russians. All this is ill-considered, this naked PR and attempt to squeeze out market share will not bring anything good to Ukraine.”
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