On 19 October 2023, a court in the Russian city of Krasnodar liquidated Free Media (“Svobodnye Media” in Russian), an independent news outlet based in the southern region of Kuban. According to the outlet, the court liquidated its legal entity on the grounds that its website had earlier been blocked by authorities and was thus not functional. In fact, Free Media wrote, the outlet continued its work online despite the block.
Free Media was initially blocked in March 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, on the grounds that it allegedly published “false information” about the war and “discredited” the Russian army. According to Russian legislation enacted days after the start of the full-scale war, any news on the invasion not officially reported on by Russian authorities is automatically considered to be “false information”.