How I Searched for “Extremism” in My Social Media. An OVD-Info Editor’s Experience

How I Searched for “Extremism” in My Social Media. An OVD-Info Editor’s Experience

Hi! My name is A., and I’m an editor of OVD-Info’s guides. When on June 4, 2026, we found ourselves on the list of terrorists and extremists, we prepared a detailed guide on how to interact with us now. It was important for us to explain to readers what the label of an “extremist organization,” which the state has pinned on OVD-Info, means in practice.

The guide includes a checklist where we recommend deleting links to OVD-Info publications from personal social media accounts and posts supporting the project, including old ones. As it turned out, I’m part of that audience too: I myself had to go through my accounts and decide whether to delete certain posts.

Censoring yourself is an unpleasant experience, because human rights work, mutual aid, freedom of speech, and the desire to live in a democratic country are not extremism. But under conditions of repression, it is important to assess the risks and try to minimize them. Including in order to preserve the ability to keep doing what you believe in.

I explain what, where, and how I searched in the cards.

And as for what I ultimately deleted, I’m deliberately not disclosing that, because there are no right or wrong answers here. Everything depends on the конкретe situation: where you live, whether you travel to Russia, how public you are in general, whether anyone else depends on you, for example relatives.

If you need advice on how to keep yourself safe, you can still message us at @OvdInfoBot or email info@ovdinfo.org.

What can you do with this post?

🟠 Read it and save it.

🟠 Like it — at the moment, there is no known practice of prosecution for likes.

🟠 Discuss it — with people you trust.

❗️ Public reposts of our publications are now unsafe because the Russian authorities have declared OVD-Info an extremist organization and banned our activities.

Take care of yourselves, and we’re staying by your side! 🧡