By A.S.
Russian authorities announced that they will block Twitter across the country within a month, if the social media giant will not remove some of the contents, which are illegal in Russia.
The contents and tweets in question include child pornography, drug abuse, and, most disturbingly, instigating children to commit suicide. There are also some political contents Russian authorities want to be removed, such as the invitations to the mass protests against the imprisonment of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
The Russian authorities decided to sue Twiter, Facebook, and Google, due to such online invitations to the protests. And on the 10th of March, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, known as Roskomnadzor, slowed down Twitter in Russia, because the child pornography and other illegal content were not removed, despite the fact that from 2017 onward the Russians send them 28,000 requests to remove such posts and tweets. One of the most controversial tweets is the call for children to commit suicide, which was also not removed, according to the Russian authorities.
Because Twitter disregarded requests to remove the mentioned content, deputy leader of Roskomnadzor, Vadim Subotin, announced that they will block Twitter with a court order within a month if the situation will not change. Apart from that, it is not the first time that Russia is in conflict with social network platforms. In the past, the Russian authorities accused Twitter and other social networks, that they are censoring Russian official and governmental accounts.