Since its 2018 launch in Russia, TikTok has established itself as one of the country’s least censored online spaces. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and VK are heavily monitored by the authorities, with a number of users being handed lengthy prison terms for posts deemed “extremist” or “offensive.” But, as a relatively new and unfamiliar platform, the video sharing app has largely been left alone by the authorities.

That all began to change in late August, with a video posted from the city of Chita in Siberia. Soundtracked by Billie Eilish’s hit “Bad Guy,” it showed a teenage boy inside a gilded Orthodox church. Looking over his shoulders and crossing himself, he leaned over and lit a cigarette on a church candle. “This will be the crime of the year,” said an off-camera voice. 

The video was widely shared and a criminal case opened, accusing the boy of “offending the feelings of believers” — a charge carrying a sentence of up to three years in prison. After he published three online apologies, the local branch of the church appealed to authorities to drop the case.

Later that month came a second court action, in which a TikTok user was fined $250 for encouraging her followers to attend a protest in the city of Yekaterinburg.