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Russia Reduces Twitter Speed Because of Its Inability to Delete Prohibited Material

As part of expanding efforts to rein in social media sites that have played a significant part in amplifying dissent, Russian authorities announced on Wednesday that they will slow down the speed at which users can upload photos and videos to Twitter because the platform has failed to remove content that has been deemed illegal.

Roskomnadzor, the state agency in charge of overseeing communications, stated that it launched the slowdown after it claimed that Twitter failed to remove content that encouraged suicide among youngsters and contained information on drugs and child pornography. Twitter's response was to reiterate its zero-tolerance policy against the sexual exploitation of children, the advocacy of suicide, and the selling of illegal drugs.

The Russian oversight agency issued a warning that Twitter might be completely shut down if it does not comply with Russian legislation. However, it expressed hope that the platform will adopt a constructive attitude and remove the content that is prohibited by the Russian government. Deputy Chief of Roskomnadzor Vadim Subbotin stated in televised remarks that Twitter is the only social platform that has "openly rejected the Russian authorities' call to remove the forbidden content." Twitter is the only social platform that has done this. The monitoring organization stated that the slowness will affect all mobile devices and fifty percent of desktop users across the country.

According to a statement released by Roskomnadzor, Twitter has failed to remove more than 3,000 tweets that include content that is prohibited, including more than 2,500 posts that encourage suicidal behavior among young people.

In a statement, Twitter said, we have a zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual exploitation; it is against the Twitter Rules to promote, glorify, or encourage suicide and self-harm; and we do not permit the use of Twitter for any illegal conduct or to further criminal activities, including the buying and selling of drugs. Twitter has a policy of zero tolerance when it comes to promoting, glorifying, or encouraging suicide and self-harm.

According to the statement, we remain dedicated to campaigning for the Open Internet around the world and are extremely disturbed by the escalating attempts to ban and throttle online public debate.

According to the findings of a web traffic analysis company called Similar Web, Twitter is not as popular in Russia as other social media sites. According to these findings, Twitter has approximately 13 million users, which is approximately a third of the number of users that Facebook has.

According to Artyom Kozlyuk, the leader of the internet rights group Roskomsvoboda, the attack on the platform could be an artillery shot intended, among other things, at scaring other important social media.  Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, stated on Wednesday that the government has no wish to impede anything, but that it is important to uphold the law.

The move taken against Twitter comes at a time when the authorities have criticized social media sites that have been used to draw tens of thousands of people out onto the streets across Russia this year in order to seek the release of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Kremlin faced a significant uphill battle in the face of the wave of protesters.

The Russian authorities have criticized the platforms for their failure to remove posts that encourage minors to participate in opposition demonstrations that are not officially sanctioned.

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, issued an order to the police force last week urging them to be more vigilant in their monitoring of social media platforms and their pursuit of individuals who pull the minors into illegal and unsanctioned street actions.  The action taken against Twitter is just one element of an ongoing campaign by the government to increase its control over the internet and social media platforms. These efforts date back to 2012, when a law was passed that gave authorities the ability to blacklist and prohibit specific online content. Since that time, according to Kozlyuk, dozens of legislation have been adopted that broaden the categories of content that are illegal, add new limitations, and extend the list of government institutions that can carried out online censorship.

Since the government passed a law in 2014 mandating online services to retain the personal data of Russian users on servers located within the country, they have been attempting to ensure that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter comply with the law. Both businesses have been subjected to a series of fines for failing to comply, with the first ones amounting to roughly $50 and the most recent ones being the equivalent of $63,000 each.

Even though it is permissible under the law, the government has refrained from enforcing complete restrictions, most likely out of a concern that doing so would incite an excessive amount of anger among the general population. Only the social network LinkedIn, which did not have much of a following in Russia to begin with, has been banned by the government due to the fact that it does not keep user data locally.

The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on The Daily Cable.

Written by Staff Reports

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