Depoliticizing the Runet: Platform Narratives and Strategic Framing of Russian Digital Ecosystem

This work explores the evolving narrative of the Russian internet (Runet) by juxtaposing its functions as an authoritarian tool for information regulation with the positive self-representation found in recent corporate reports published by Yandex and affiliated digital platforms. Runet is a space where state policy, legal frameworks (Sovereign Internet law, ‘fake news’ laws), domestic tech players, and geopolitical tensions interact to create a unique ecosystem with curated usage and unified political views. In terms of global influence, Runet can be examined as an exporter of policy, technology, and norms for cross-national adoptions of similar laws and platform practices. The media space has a long history of state-led guidance and corporate cooperation. The network has been becoming increasingly more authoritative throughout years with the war in Ukraine motivating many of its newly applied restrictions. However, despite its factual functions as shaping user surveillance and curating information flows, industry reports portray Runet as a thriving, innovative, and optimism-driven entertaining ecosystem. What prevails is the emphasis on growth metrics, increased user engagement, and the prevalence of ‘positive’ and non-political content. Notably, the reports usually omit references to wartime censorship, practices of surveillance, or information controls of the state digital apparatus. Through discourse analysis of these documents, this study investigates the tension between digital authoritarianism and corporate narrative functions as a form of strategic depolitical framing. By highlighting the opposition between practice and presentation, the paper reveals how framings of the Russian digital environment contribute to the normalization of securitized platform governance while reinforcing the legitimacy of state-corporate control over the information order.