Russia surveilling students for online LGBTQ+ activity

The Russian LGBT Network has reported the schooling administration of the Nevsky district of St. Petersburg (Russia) instructed teachers to gather information about their student’s online activity to ensure they are not engaging with LGBTQ+ content. The LGBT Network claims to have screenshots of messages from a teacher which indicates they were told to check the personal networking pages of students.

If a student’s social media contained ‘LGBTQ+ symbols’ such as a rainbow flag, teachers were reportedly asked to create a file on the child which included their address and physical descriptions. The surveillance is based on the notion that engaging with LGBTQ+ online content would be breaching Russia’s ‘gay propaganda law’. This law criminalises any activity which is deemed to ‘promote’ the LGBTQ+ community. It has been condemned by many LGBTQ+ groups and activists for ‘encouraging homophobia’.

Although same-sex relations are not illegal in Russia, the LGBTQ+ community are frequently subjected to discrimination. The monitoring of student’s represents the latest example of Russian authorities policing LGBTQ+ voices.

Aleksandr Belik, a lawyer for the Russian LGBT Network, said “such monitoring is illegal. Educational organizations do not have the power to collect material on administrative offences, and teachers do not have a duty to monitor social networks in their job descriptions.”