Toloka, an Amsterdam-based Yandex subsidiary, is helping develop the facial recognition software Russia uses to massively track and arrest protesters, according to research by Follow the Money, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and Paper Trail Media. The two Russian companies Toloka works with are both on the EU sanctions list.
Surveillance companies sanctioned for their role in detaining protesters and activists in Russia have used gig workers around the world to train their facial recognition systems.
It is difficult to pin down the exact moment that Russia began morphing into a totalitarian state, but the transformation didn’t take long. For over a decade, the Kremlin was taking away civil liberties and feeding the population a revamped and increasingly more aggressive version of nationalism. For nearly a decade, most Russians didn't seem to care.
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