Editing Milblog (section)

==Response by governments==

===United States===
Military blogs became accepted within a few years. Whereas Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]] was at first believed to be skeptical of military blogs,<ref name=dao /> by 2007 president [[George W. Bush]] lauded them as "an important voice for the cause of freedom."<ref name=schwab />

Official oversight of websites maintained by military personnel deployed to the Middle East began in 2002. The oversight mission consisted of active-duty soldiers and contractors, as well as Guard and Reserve members from Maryland, Texas and Washington state. Its remit was expanded in August 2005.<ref name=felberbaum />

In Iraq, commanding officers shut down a blog that reported on the medical response to a suicide bombing that had taken place in late 2004 in Mosul. The Army Web Risk Assessment Cell was created to monitor compliance with military regulations.<ref name=hockenberry/> In April 2005, a four-page document of regulations was issued by Multi-National Corps-Iraq,<ref name=felberbaum /> directing all military bloggers in Iraq to register with their units, and commanders to conduct quarterly reviews to make sure bloggers were not disclosing casualty numbers or violating operational security or privacy rules.<ref name=hockenberry>{{Cite magazine| volume = 13| issue = 8| last = Hockenberry| first = John| title = The Blogs of War| magazine = Wired| access-date = 2016-07-23| date = August 2005| url = http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/milblogs_pr.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050813011933/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/milblogs_pr.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2005-08-13}}</ref> Some milbloggers took down or altered their blogs for fear of violating the regulation that many of them believed to be too ambiguous.<ref name=felberbaum>{{Cite news| last = Felberbaum| first = Michael| title = Army Monitors Soldiers' Blogs, Web Sites| newspaper = Washington Post| date = 2006-10-29| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900249_pf.html}}</ref> The regulations were updated in April 2007 but, according to many bloggers in war theatres, failed to resolve their ambiguities.<ref name=schwab>{{Cite news| issn = 0190-8286| last = Schwab| first = Nikki| title = Military Bloggers Wary of New Policy| newspaper = The Washington Post| access-date = 2016-11-01| date = 2007-05-05| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050500881.html}}</ref>

Although the [[U.S. Department of Defense]] was initially concerned about milblogs as a potential [[OPSEC]] violation,<ref name=alvarez>{{Cite news| last = Alvarez| first = Steve| title = CENTCOM Team Engages 'Bloggers'| work = Defense.gov| access-date = 2016-08-05| date = 2006-03-02| url = https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/id/15287/| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100608222440/http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=15287| url-status = live| archive-date = 2010-06-08}}</ref> it eventually embraced the concept and attempted to implement official versions of milblogs.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Bennett| first = Daniel| title = Tracing the first official U.S. military blogs| work = Frontline Club| access-date = 2016-08-05| date = 2010-07-07| url = http://www.frontlineclub.com/official_us_military_blogs/}}</ref>  Official milblogs did not receive the same reception or popularity of the unofficial milblogs as they were written in the same dull language as other official publications of the Defense Department.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

===Russia===
In Russia, milbloggers (sometimes called ''voenkory'', "[[war correspondent]]s"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kottasová |first=Ivana |date=2023-04-04 |title=Putin's digital footsoldiers: How bloggers became a key cog in Russia's war machine |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/04/europe/russia-military-bloggers-war-machine-intl-cmd/index.html |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=CNN}}</ref>) have gained prominence during the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]], providing a greater level of information about the war than is available from state media. Blogs range from those affiliated with state media, which often provided information more in-line with that of government positions, to independent and [[Wagner Group]]-affiliated blogs which are more critical of the Russian military establishment's performance in Ukraine. These blogs are notable for their ultranationalist and pro-war views.<ref name="bbc" /> The [[Institute for the Study of War]] attributed their popularity to the Russian government's failure to establish an effective social media presence as well as its failure in preparing the Russian public for a drawn-out war. The Russian government has protected them from calls for censorship and has selectively granted positions to nationalist and pro-war milbloggers due to their importance in the ultranationalist constituency which [[Russia under Vladimir Putin|Vladimir Putin's presidency]] has become increasingly reliant upon. Putin himself has met with prominent milbloggers aligned with state-media to discuss military matters.<ref>{{cite news |title=Institute for the Study of War |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-june-13-2023 |access-date=14 June 2023 }}</ref> However, since September 2023, the Russian government arrested a number of high-profile milbloggers, which some have seen as a crackdown on the community.<ref name="insider" />