Moscow The media regulator in Moscow has blocked the social network Facebook in Russia. The Roskomnadzor authority announced on Friday in Moscow that it was a reaction to the shutdown of several Russian media pages on Facebook. Shortly thereafter, the Kremlin restricted access to the short message service Twitter, as reported by the Russian agency Tass. Twitter users in Moscow confirmed that the network stopped working on mobile phones. Several independent media outlets had previously been shut down or blocked.
A week ago, Roskomnadzor announced Facebook’s slowdown. Since October 2020, a total of “26 cases of discrimination against Russian media and information services by Facebook” have been registered, it said. In the past few days, Facebook has restricted access to the pages of the Russian military television station Zvezda, the state news agency Ria Novosti and the state TV broadcaster RT.
The US criticizes the Facebook blockade. The decision is part of a broader effort by the Russian leadership to withhold a wide range of information from citizens, US Presidential Office spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters. “We are deeply concerned about this and concerned about the threat to freedom of speech in the country.”
The US corporations had previously been fined several times for not deleting information critical of the Kremlin at the request of the authorities in Moscow. Facebook criticized the shutdown in Russia. Facebook manager Nick Clegg wrote on Twitter that millions of people would be cut off from reliable information. They are also deprived of the opportunity to connect with their families and friends via the social network.
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Many Russians use social networks to find out about Russia’s war against Ukraine. Protected network connections (VPN) are widespread in Russia, via which access to Facebook and Twitter is still guaranteed. In many cases, this is not legal. The news channel Telegram, which the Russian authorities have not been able to technically restrict so far, is used particularly intensively.
Putin punishes alleged false information
Earlier on Friday, Russia’s parliament voted to amend the law that would impose harsh penalties on the media for spreading alleged misinformation about the Russian armed forces. There is a risk of heavy fines and up to 15 years in prison.
Media in Russia have been banned since last week from using terms such as “attack”, “invasion” and “declaration of war” in reporting on the war against Ukraine. Moscow describes the war as a military “special operation”.
According to the wording of the law, it is punishable by law to spread alleged false information about Russian soldiers, to discredit the armed forces and to call for sanctions against Russia.
It is feared that this will severely restrict the reporting of the remaining independent media in Russia. The Russian authorities had already blocked several critical broadcasters in the past few days. The well-known radio station Echo Moskvy announced its closure. The British broadcaster BBC also no longer reports from Russia.
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