Putin vows to take down Twitter: Service will be blocked in Russia in 30 days if it does not delete 'banned content' related to porn, suicide and Alexis Navalny protests

 

Russia has threatened to block Twitter within 30 days unless the site acts to remove what the government refers to as 'banned content'. 

Vadim Subbotin, deputy head of watchdog Roskomnadzor, said on Tuesday that the ban would come into effect unless Twitter removed the content, which he said includes child porn and information on child suicide and drugs.

But critics say the crackdown is actually an attempt to stop Putin's political opponents organising rallies, as they did in a number of cities earlier this year.

 

 Twitter is not reacting to our requests as they should. If the situation carries on then it will be blocked in a month without a court order,' Subbotin said. 

It comes a week after Subbotin announced that Twitter's internet speed would be slowed down unless it removed the offending content.  

Meanwhile Twitter is also being sued in Russia for allegedly failing to delete material encouraging children to join anti-Putin protests.

Twitter said at the time that it was worried about the impact on free speech despite Russian laws specifically outlawing children attending protests. 

Russia has also railed against social media sites for censoring state-controlled media such as RT, which have been branded propaganda sites by foreign governments.

Back in January, Putin personally accused social media giants in January of 'controlling society' and 'restricting the right to freely express viewpoints.'

Around 9million Russians are thought to use Twitter, just eight per cent of the country's total population, though it is the favoured means of communication for Putin's critics including the likes of Navalny.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9367999/Russian-threatens-block-Twitter-30-days-banned-content.html