You're reading: Meduza: Teachers near Moscow were told to like officials’ Facebook posts

Meduza has obtained instructions apparently drafted by state officials in the Moscow region’s Voskresensk district (or possibly written on their orders) and addressed to staff at local educational and cultural institutions, demanding that they “like” posts shared by the district’s top officials on Vkontakte, Facebook, Instagram, and Odnoklassniki. The document circulated in Voskresensk tells teachers and other civil servants how to like social-media posts and how to report back that they’ve carried out the instructions.

Titled “Rules and Regulations for Specialists on Social Media,” the instructions require staff to open accounts on social networks (if they don’t already have them), and then to “submit a friend request” to Voskresensk municipal district head Oleg Sukhar, district chief of staff Vitaly Chekov, education department head Irma Pismennaya, and her assistant, Igor Podolenchuk.