The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and the Russian Media (Roskomnadzor) confirmed this Friday that it has begun to restrict access to Twitter in the territory of Russia, according to the regulator’s portal. for monitoring blocked web pages.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office made the decision to block Twitter on February 24. The social network is blocked on the basis of article 15.3 of the Federal Law on Information, Information Technology and Information Protection, which authorizes restricting access to web pages where “calls for mass disturbances, extremist activities or participation in mass (public) events that are carried out in violation of established procedure”.
This article also allows the blocking of portals that contain “false information of public importance spread under the guise of reliable messages that endangers the life and (or) health of citizens, property, threatens a massive disturbance of public order and ( o) public security”, or that disseminate materials of foreign NGOs considered by the Russian Government as “unwanted”.
In addition to Twitter, Roskomnadzor has blocked Facebook, albeit for another reason. The regulator considered that the social network discriminates against Russian media, such as Zvezda, RIA Novosti, Sputnik, RT, Lenta.ru or Gazeta.ru.
