Russia vs. Twitter: slowdowns, fines and a possible blackout

The tug of war between Russia and social networks (Facebook and Twitter) It is not new. In 2019, for example, the Kremlin threatened them for not storing the data of their Russian users in databases located on their territory.

If they did not comply with the laws, there would be a fine and the possibility of suspension.

By then, Facebook was already in the eye of the storm after more than “500 fake pages“Who shared information linked to the Russian government and who sought to influence” in Ukraine. “

Platforms shook: Russia had been ruthless with Linkedin (in 2016) and Telegram (2018), blocking these networks.

Since then, there has been a tense peace.

But recently, the Kremlin is determined to hit Twitter. How are you doing it? Decreasing your internet connection speed.

THE CASE OF TWITTER

Pornography, drugs, suicides: this type of content is illegal for the Russian government, so social networks have to be vigilant to remove them from their platforms.

But Twitter would have failed. According to the “Deutsche Welle”, last Friday, the authorities gave him three fines (US $ 116,000) for not complying with that rule.

“[Habían mensajes que] invited young people to attend demonstrations in a period that coincides with the emergence of mobilizations in support of the main Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who is serving a prison sentence”, Notes the medium.

The fines were not the first action the Kremlin took against Twitter. According to the “DW”, in March it was announced that they were “slowing down“As a penalty for not having deleted”illegal content”.

Roskomnadzor, the media and internet regulator, pointed out that the measure affected all mobile devices and 50% of non-mobile devices, and that it will remain until May 15, as Infobae notes.

Russia threatens Facebook and Twitter with multi-million dollar sanctions. (AFP / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV). (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV /)

The regulator noted in a statement: “This gives the Twitter company additional time to remove all prohibited content from the social network and adjust its activity to the legislation of the Russian Federation.”.

In this regard, “El Clarín” adds:

“The social network houses 3,168 entries with prohibited information, of them 2,569 with incitement to minors to suicide, 450 with child pornography and 149 on drug use”.

With that in mind, the EFE agency notes that the Kremlin is targeting Facebook -with “administrative protocols”Similar-, while it will begin to take action against Google since the beginning of May.

“[Mañana, un] court will study the cases opened for the same cause against Telegram and Tik Tok”Added EFE.

In 2019, Vladimir Putin confessed that he did not have a smartphone, Twitter account, or Facebook. (Reuters).

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION?

After knowing the sanction, Twitter responded and expressed its concern, since its own internal policies prevent sharing the content for which it has been sanctioned. The “DW” picked up the posture of the platform:

“Let’s be clear: we have a zero tolerance policy regarding the sexual exploitation of children. Promoting, glorifying or encouraging suicide and self harm is against Twitter rules and we do not allow its use for any illegal behavior, including the buying and selling of drugs. “

The magazine “Semana” recalls that Vladimir Putin said, during his participation in the last Davos Forum, that “Internet giants ‘already compete de facto with states’, referring to their ‘attempts to brutally control society’ “.

To those words, Dmitri PeskovKremlin spokesman added that he would have liked not to have to get to this point.

“Nobody wants a complete ban, it would be foolish to defend that. But we have to force these companies to respect our rules. No state that respects itself would let a company impose its conditions on it“, Held.

To this can be added the statements of Maria Zajárova, Foreign Ministry spokesman, who maintained that he was surprised that, in various parts of the world, they did not react when false information is published on social networks.

“We are forced to point out again that Twitter is rapidly degenerating from an independent discussion platform to an instrument of global digital dictatorship in the hands of established Western power.”, He asserted.