Russia says it is slowing down Twitter to protect citizens from illegal content

Russia has announced that it is imposing restrictions on social media platform Twitter for failing to remove illegal content from its platform. The Federal Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Communications Oversight Service, also known as Roskomnadzor, announced Wednesday that it is slowing down the speed of Twitter.

The communications watchdog said it was taking the measures to keep Russia’s citizens safe and that it could end up blocking the service completely if Twitter doesn’t respond accordingly.

Speeds will be reduced on all mobile devices and 50% of non-mobile devices, such as computers, Roskomnadzor said in a statement on its website.Roskomnadzor accused Twitter of failing to remove content that encourages minors to commit suicide, as well as child pornography, and drug use.

The regulator said it asked Twitter to remove links and publications more than 28,000 times between 2017 and March 2021. It said that other social networks had been more co-operative than Twitter on removing content that encourages minors to commit suicide.

Russia’s move to throttle Twitter follows similar actions by governments in Turkey and India who have also threatened jail time for platform execs.

Russia says it is slowing down Twitter to protect citizens from illegal content, CNBC, Mar 10