In 2017, Ukraine imposed sanctions on a number of russian websites.
As a result, internet service providers restricted access for three years to the following sites, which were popular at the time:
- the social networks Odnoklassniki and VK
- the email service mail.ru
- the search engine Yandex
These restrictions became the subject of legal challenges.
The ECHR provided a final answer to the question of whether such restrictions violated human rights in its decision in Boyarov and Others v. Ukraine.
Key findings of the ECHR:
- russia used web resources to spread propaganda and anti-Ukrainian ideas
- the Ukrainian sanctions were justified, given the connection between the aforementioned web products and russia, as well as the context of their use
- the restrictions were not directed against social media users, but against the resources and their owners
- restrictions on access to russian web resources did not violate the applicants’ rights: they could use these resources via a VPN. In addition, alternative web products (Facebook, Gmail, etc.) were available to the applicants
As a reminder, sanctions against Russian social media platforms remain in effect today; they were previously extended in 2020 and 2023.
06/04/2026
