Lots Of Negative Content, Russia Deliberately Slows Down Twitter Access

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Russia is outraged by the proliferation of negative content circulating on Twitter. Moreover, Twitter did not remove these contents from the Russian mass line.

The Russian Telecommunication Regulation Minister, Roskomnadzor, announced the slowdown in internet access or throttle since Wednesday, March 10.

"This slowdown will be applied to 100 percent of mobile devices and 50 percent of non-mobile devices," said Roskomnadzor.

Russia several weeks ago accused Twitter and other platforms of failing to remove illegal content, prompting children to join anti-Kremlin protests. The illegal content contains elements of child pornography, drug abuse and encourages children to commit suicide.

Russia's domestic politics has been heating up recently, some time ago there were protests over the arrest of government critic Alexei Navalny. Roskomnadzor said there are more than 3,000 illegal content on Twitter that remains despite being asked to be removed over the years.

"If (Twitter) continues to ignore the requirements in the law, law enforcement will continue (until the blocking)," said Roskomnadzor.

Russia demands five social media platforms, one of which is Twitter, for not removing content that invites children to participate in illegal protests. In response to Russia's actions, Twitter was concerned about its impact on freedom of expression and denied the platform supports illegal behavior.

"We remain committed to advocating for the Open Internet around the world and are deeply concerned about the increasing efforts to block and slow down public conversations online," Twitter said.

Twitter says it does not tolerate the sexual exploitation of children and does not support suicide and self-harm.