TikTok Stops Russia's Live Streaming Service, Impact Of Putin's New Law

JAKARTA - TikTok, the video app owned by China's Bytedance, announced on Sunday, March 6 that it will be suspending live streaming and uploading of videos to its platform in Russia.

This is done because they have reviewed the implications of the new media law signed on Friday, March 4 by Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Among other things, the law states that the Russian government can imprison a person or institution if it is proven that they are spreading fake news.

This makes it difficult for TikTok to interpret so-called fake news. Because the subjectivity in determining this fake news comes from the Russian government

"We have no choice but to suspend live streaming and new content to our video service while we review the security implications of this law," the social media company said in a series of Twitter posts.

But TikTok also stated that in-app messages would not be affected by the decision.

Reuters reported that the US government on Saturday, March 5 condemned the new law from Russia, which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years for spreading what the Kremlin describes as "fake news".