Russia threatens to block Twitter, slows down speed

Russia has taken a hard stand against Twitter by slowing down its speed, after the microblogging platform failed to remove illegal content from its platform. The Federal Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications Oversight Service (Roskomnadzor) said it was taking appropriate measures to keep Russia’s citizens safe.

This drastic step comes weeks after Russian authorities accused the US-based platform and others of failing to delete posts it said illegally urged children to take part in anti-Kremlin protests. Russia took this harsh decision as domestic political tensions have risen over the arrest and jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, which triggered nationwide protests.

The communications watchdog said it could end up blocking the service completely if Twitter doesn’t correspond. It said there were more than 3,000 posts containing illegal content on Twitter and accused the platform of ignoring its deletion requests for years. The platform has also been alleged of failing to remove content that encourages minors to commit suicide, as well as child pornography, and drug use. The regulator said it asked the platform to remove links and publications more than 28,000 times between 2017 and March 2021.

According to Reuters, the company is already under pressure in Russia after it was named as one of five social media platforms being sued for allegedly failing to delete posts urging children to take part in illegal protests. An official at Roskomnadzor said it was possible that the authorities could target and slow down other internet platforms if they failed to comply with the law. The Kremlin said there was no desire to block content but the companies had to abide by the law.

Also Read: Impact of Social Media on everyday life cannot be ignored: Kazim Rizvi

Matt Navara, a social media consultant, said the threat of restricting, blocking or banning social media platforms appears to be a growing trend for countries notorious for harsher, less democratic regimes. Social media platforms are in constant battle to keep inappropriate content off their platforms. Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter use a combination of software and human content moderators to police what gets shared on their platforms, but none of them have truly mastered content moderation.