Russia fines Twitter for not removing banned content

A Russian court on May 27 fined the Twitter operator 7 million rubles ($95,310) for not removing illegal content.

Twitter icon on mobile phone and tablet screens. Photo: AFP/VNA Since March, Russia’s Communications Supervision Agency (Roskomnadzor) has reduced the transmission speed of Twitter in Russia because the social network did not urgently remove banned content, and warned to block all activities. of this platform on the territory of Russia. According to Roskomnadzor, there are thousands of banned content on Twitter, such as suicide instructions, inciting suicide, materials with sexually explicit images of minors, or information on drug preparation and use. .. Twitter has denied allegations that allow users to take advantage of this social networking platform to incite illegal acts, asserting that Twitter has a “zero tolerance” policy for child sexual abuse. as well as behavior that encourages suicide or self-harm. According to Roskomnadzor, since March, Twitter has removed 91% of banned content, but still hundreds of posts are showing. In recent months, Russia has tightened regulations aimed at controlling technology and social media corporations. Two days ago, a Russian court fined Google “tech giant” 4 million rubles ($54,540) for not removing content on the country’s banned list.