RUSSIA SLOWS TWITTER’S SPEED OVER PROTEST ROW, WARNS OF OUTRIGHT BAN

MOSCOW: Russia said on Wednesday it was slowing down the speed of Twitter in retaliation for its alleged failure to remove banned content and threatened a total block if the US platform did not comply with its deletion demands.

The move, which escalates a growing stand-off between Moscow and US social media, comes weeks after Russian authorities accused Twitter and others of failing to delete posts it said illegally urged children to take part in anti-Kremlin protests.

Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, said in a statement that as of Wednesday there were more than 3,000 posts containing illegal content on Twitter, which it accused of ignoring its deletion requests for years.

Twitter is already under pressure in Russia after it was named as one of five social media platforms being sued for allegedly failing to delete posts urging children to take part in illegal protests, the Interfax news agency cited a Moscow court as saying on Tuesday.

The regulator did not mention content related to opposition protests on Wednesday, but referred to what it said was illegal content on Twitter containing child pornography, information about drug abuse and calls for minors to commit suicide.

“The slowing down will be applied to 100% of mobile devices and on 50% of non-mobile devices,” the regulator said.

“If (Twitter) continues to ignore the requirements of the law, the enforcement measures will be continued... (right up to blocking it),” the regulator said.

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS ACCUSED TWITTER, OTHER PLATFORMS OF FAILING TO DELETE POSTS IT SAYS ILLEGALLY URGED CHILDREN TO TAKE PART IN ANTI-KREMLIN DEMONSTRATIONS