Internet in Russia: A Study of the Runet and Its Impact on Social Life

This book presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the Internet in Russia and its impact on various aspects of social life. The contributions discuss topics such as the features of the Russian media system and digitization processes, the history of the Runet, national Internet markets and the Internet economy, as well as legal aspects. By presenting the results of relevant case studies, it illustrates the process of integrating the Russian segment of the Internet into the international system, offering insights into various country-specific features of the Runet’s functioning and development.

The first part of the book focuses on the Internet in the context of development of the Russian media system with respect to historical features and digital inequalities. The second part then discusses economic and legal aspects of the Runet, while the third and the fourth parts offer an analysis of digital culture, including the role of journalism and regional diversities as well as online representations and discussions.

The chapter "Runet in Crisis Situations" is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

Dr. Sergey Davydov is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Communications, Media and Design at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia). His interests include the sociology of media and public opinion and methodology of social research. From 2005 to 2011 he worked as Head of Media Research at the International Institute of Marketing and Social Research “GfK-Rus”. He is author of more than 80 scientific publications and co-editor of the book series “Online Research in Russia” (volumes 2, 3 and 4, in Russian). He also heads several research projects, including “Runet Economy” (since 2012) and “Index of Digital Literacy in Russian Regions” (since 2015). He is a member of various international academic and industrial associations and societies (including ASEEES, IAMCR, ICA).