RUSSIAN MEDIA WATCHDOG WILL BLOCK TWITTER IN ONE MONTH UNLESS IT DELETES BANNED CONTENT

Tue 16 March 2021:

Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor may impose measures, similar to those enforced against Twitter, also against other internet and social networking services, including Facebook, Youtube and Instagram, Roskomnadzor deputy head Vadim Subbotin said on Tuesday.

“We do not rule out that if other sites also violate Russian legislation and fail to comply with the requirements of Roskomnadzor, we will follow the same technical line,” Subbotin told reporters.

Subbotin added that he was talking about “slowing down and blocking.

In a move that escalates the growing stand-off, Vadim Subbotin, the deputy head of Roskomnadzor, the communications watchdog, was cited as saying on Tuesday that Twitter had not addressed Russian concerns yet and would be blocked in Russia in a month unless it did so.

Roskomnadzor’s deputy head also said that the watchdog has technical capabilities to fully block Twitter in Russia and did not rule out such a scenario.

Twitter said at the time that it was worried about the impact on free speech of the Russian action, and denied that it allowed its platform to be used to promote illegal behaviour as alleged by Russian authorities.

Since March 10, Roskomnadzor slowed down the speed of Twitter in Russia on all of the mobile devices and half of the stationary devices and threatened to block it if Twitter does not start to comply with Russian laws. The department thousands of initial and repeated requests to remove illegal links and publications, which were never fulfilled.

The U.S. platform was already under pressure in Russia after it was named earlier this month as one of five social media platforms being sued for allegedly failing to delete posts urging children to take part in illegal anti-Kremlin protests.