HRF Condemns WP Engine for Blocking the Tyranny Tracker at the Kremlin's Behest
20 days ago
- WP Engine, a US web hosting company, blocked access to HRF's Tyranny Tracker website from Russia at the demand of Roskomnadzor, Russia's censorship agency.
- HRF refused to implement the block and sent a letter urging WP Engine to reconsider, but the site was geo-blocked within 24 hours without a court order or specific law cited.
- HRF's Chief Legal Officer condemned WP Engine for becoming a tool of Kremlin censorship, and HRF Chair Yulia Navalnaya criticized the company for enforcing a repressive regime's directives.
- The block came after Russia designated HRF an 'undesirable' organization, citing the Tyranny Tracker's classification of Russia as 'fully authoritarian'.
- HRF calls on democratic governments and companies to reject Kremlin's efforts to export censorship and vows to keep the Tyranny Tracker accessible to Russian readers.