Russia extends Twitter slowdown, deadline for removal of illegal content

Russia’s state telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor extended the deadline for Twitter to remove the illegal content encouraging suicide among children and containing information about drugs and child pornography from its platform by mid-May, even as the country slowed the speed of the website earlier in March. The partial restrictions were prompted due to Twitter’s failure to remove banned content despite repeated warnings and threats of the permanent ban by the Russian authorities. Russia had instructed Twitter to take a “constructive stance” to avoid being blocked entirely and comply with the demand for controversial content removal. The reduced speeds of Twitter in Russia take longer for videos and photos to load on the platform.

Deputy chief of Roskomnadzor, Vadim Subbotin, said in televised remarks that Twitter is the only social platform that “openly ignored the Russian authorities’ demand to remove the banned content.”Russia’s telecom, IT, and communications supervisory agency Roskomnadzor alleged that the firm has failed to take significant actions despite warnings from the government. In its verbal threats to Twitter, Russia’s state censor Roskomnadzor said on the website that Twitter “maliciously violated Russian law” by failing to take down tweets and information that violated government’s protocols.

Penalty of up to  800,000 to 8 million rubles

Roskomnadzor earlier alleged in a statement that the tech giant Twitter has failed to take down at least 2,862 posts out of a total of 28,000 removal requests sent to the firm since 2017. The banned content included nearly 2,336 posts relating to suicide, 352 posts containing pornographic images of minors, and 174 posts with information about drug manufacture and use, the agency said on the website.

Roskomnadzor had also demanded that Twitter provides a list of accounts that it deactivated, most of which were found to be linked with the Russian government. Twitter had earlier taken down the Russian government-linked accounts saying that it “amplified narratives that were aligned with the Russian government” as well as "undermining faith in the NATO alliance and its stability.”  Russia warned that under its law, the social media giant risks facing a penalty of up to  800,000 to 8 million rubles for not removing the illegal content. 

(Image Credit: AP)