This project is created in support of Russian media outlets and NGOs subjected to political pressure and labelled ‘foreign agents’. The ‘foreign agent’ label marks an organisation or a person as undesirable to sources, advertisers, supporters and readers. They have to place so-called ‘black spot’ on their websites and social media feeds whenever they publish an article or share private news. That black spot (precisely typed in capital letters) starting as ‘THIS MESSAGE (MATERIAL) WAS CREATED AND/OR DISSEMINATED...’ ("ДАННОЕ СООБЩЕНИЕ (МАТЕРИАЛ) СОЗДАНО И (ИЛИ) РАСПРОСТРАНЕНО...") steals space and attention from the useful information that is to be reported. While we got used to read posts and articles scrolling this stupid box, this makes daily work of journalists incredibly difficult and leds to loss of advertisers. Due to ‘foreign agent’ legislation a number of labeled outlets have been forced to shut down. Since 2012, when the legislation was originally signed, the Justice Ministry has slapped the label on more than 20 media outlets and a dozen Russian citizens, including independent journalists and activists.
