Russia says Twitter mobile slowdown to remain until all banned content is removed
MOSCOW – Russia will continue slowing down the speed of
Twitter on mobile devices until all content deemed illegal is deleted, state
communications regulator Roskomnadzor told Reuters, as Moscow continues to make
demands of Big Tech.
Russian authorities have taken steps recently to regulate
technology giants more closely by imposing small fines for content violations,
while also seeking to force foreign companies to have official representation
in Russia and store Russians’ personal data on its territory.
Twitter has been subjected to a punitive slowdown in Russia
since March for posts containing child pornography, drug abuse information or
calls for minors to commit suicide, Roskomnadzor has said.
Twitter, which did not immediately comment on Monday, denies
allowing its platform to be used to promote illegal behaviour. It says it has a
zero-tolerance policy for child sexual exploitation and prohibits the promotion
of suicide or self-harm.
Videos and photos are noticeably slower to load on mobile
devices, but Roskomnadzor eased speed restrictions on fixed networks in May.
Roskomnadzor said Twitter, which it has fined a total of
38.4 million roubles ($511,900) this year, has systematically ignored requests
to remove banned material since 2014, but has taken down more than 90% of
illegal posts.
“As of now, 761 undeleted posts remain,” Roskomnadzor said
in response to Reuters questions. “The condition for lifting the access
restriction on mobile devices is that Twitter completely removes banned
materials detected by Roskomnadzor.”
The regulator has said it will seek fines on the annual
turnover of Alphabet’s Google and Facebook in Russia for repeated legal
violations, threats the two companies did not comment on at the time.
“We also reiterate that the social network Twitter has been
repeatedly found guilty by a Russian court of committing administrative
offences,” Roskomnadzor said.
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