Boosty, a donation collection service, blocked the account of the samizdat “Discourse” at the request of Roskomnadzor. The editors of the magazine reported this.
The service refused to provide Discourse with documents from the department, citing the “confidentiality” of Roskomnadzor’s requirements. When you try to access the magazine page in Boosty, a message appears stating that this account has been blocked “for violating the rules of the user agreement.”
“We at the editorial office are convinced that platforms should protect their users — be transparent to society, defend digital rights and freedoms, and not indulge in illegal political decisions of government agencies. Today, unfortunately, this is not the case, but blocking will not stop samizdat. We remain with you and together we will continue to honestly talk about what is important, strengthen independent voices and publish free art,” the editors’ statement reads.
The project website says that “Discourse” is an artistic and analytical magazine “with a horizontal editorial board.” The materials for it are created by an open community of scientists, journalists, musicians, writers, businessmen, philosophers, engineers and artists who have united to “explain the mosaic picture of modernity from different points of view.” Among the magazine’s correspondents is documentary director Vsevolod Korolev, who in early July was sentenced to seven years in prison instead of three in the case of military “fakes” (clause “e” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code).
In October 2023, Boosty, at the request of Roskomnadzor, deleted the account of the “To be continued” project, maintained by Novaya Gazeta journalist Pavel Kanygin. Before this, the department’s requests to the service were not known.
Boosty belonged to the VK holding until the fall of 2022, until it was bought out by the founder of the Leta Capital fund, Alexander Chachava. Last August, Kommersant wrote that Chachava was negotiating the sale of Boosty back to VK. The completion of this transaction has not been announced.