Failed To Overcome Prohibited Content, Discord Blocked By Russia

Discord blocked in Russia (photo: dock. Discord)

JAKARTA Roskomnadzor, a communications regulator in Russia, decided to block Discord for a violation by the platform. This is the first foreign platform to be restricted in Russia.

Before this platform was blocked, Roskomnadzor ordered Discord to remove 947 material deemed illegal on the platform. This material includes pornographic content against children and promotions of illegal drugs.

In addition, calls for extremism, involvement of minors for bad activities, calls for suicide, and propaganda against the LGBT community are also considered as part of illegal material. Therefore, this material should not circulate on the platform.

Roskomnadzor not only ordered Discord to remove illegal material, but also set fines for failing to get rid of the content. The Russian institution fined US$37,493 (Rp569 million).

In fact, Roskomnadzor has not only fined Discord. Over the past few years, Russia has always ordered foreign platforms to remove illegal material. If this foreign platform fails, it will be fined a small nominal amount, but routinely.

Last August, Roskomnadzor fined 5 million rubles (Rp804 million) to Google and 4 million rubles (Rp643 million) to TikTok. Just like Discord, these two companies were fined for failing to address illicit content on their platform.

Google is a foreign technology company that Roskomnadzor often fines. The company was fined in July 2021, March 2022, until December last year. According to Roskomnadzor, Google is full of terrorism and extremism content.