As of April 2017, cartoons or other satires of Putin can be labeled “extremist material.” In 2019, a broader measure made those who “disrespect” the state and its symbols, “society,” or government authorities on the Internet liable for fifteen days in jail. “Soon we’ll be telling jokes about authorities in whispers in the kitchen,” wrote a Moscow lawyer on Facebook, describing a situation familiar to those who lived under Communist or other authoritarian regimes.53
