In the midst of repression of protesters and independents mediaThe Kremlin blocked access to Facebook and Twitter on Friday.
Russia’s telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said the decision to block Facebook was in response to the platform’s alleged “discrimination” against the Russian media, citing 26 cases since October 2020.
Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Facebook’s parent company Meta, said in a statement on Twitter: will be silenced. “We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so that they remain available to the people to express themselves safely and securely and to organize for action.”
Early Friday night, Meta released another statement announcing that advertisers in Russia would be cut off from Facebook: “Despite the announcement by the Russian government that they will block Facebook, we are working to keep our services available to the maximum. However, due to operational difficulties in Russia at the moment, ads targeting people in Russia will be stopped and advertisers in Russia will no longer be able to create or display ads anywhere in the world, including Russia. “
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, confirmed the ban on Twitter in a Telegram post and likened the move to something from a book by George Orwell.
However, a Twitter spokesman told CBS News that while the company is aware of reports of a ban, the platform does not currently see anything “significantly different” from what it previously had. shared.
The ban followed Russia’s move on Thursday to block access to the websites of several foreign news outlets, including the BBC, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Deutsche Welle and other media outlets.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has added more than 5,000 sites to its “ban list,” according to research and security firm Top 10 VPN. While some banned sites include routine regulations, more than 80 news agencies and 30 financial sites have been removed from access since February 24.
Simon Migliano, head of research for the Top 10 VPNs, told CBS News that Russia had recently focused on shutting down Russian-language news. “There was a big boost right after the invasion,” Miliano told CBS News.
“It seems like a well-coordinated and strategic campaign, following first the big news sites in Ukraine. Now they are expanding to big foreign news sites with big fans in Russia following the invasion.”
Russia began blocking financial sites on Monday as the ruble plummeted. The bans include currency and encryption platforms that will allow Russians to exchange money in another currency.
The official announcement of the Facebook ban also came several days after the Russian government restricted access to social media platforms, in what Roskomnadzor called a “partial” ban. This restriction – or the deliberate slowdown in the speed of the Internet – followed Meta’s refusal to stop the independent control of the Russian-backed media.
Users reported that Internet speeds were so slow when they entered websites from Russian IP addresses that it rendered them useless, although no official ban had been imposed.
On Monday, Facebook and Instagram restricted access to Russian state media across the European Union after receiving requests from the EU and several other governments to make such a move. Two days later, Twitter confirmed that it would impose similar regulations in Europe, following the EU announcement of sanctions on state-backed media, RT and Sputnik.
At the time, Twitter said its “global approach outside the EU” would focus on empowering state-owned media through labeling. “We continue to support a free and open internet, especially in times of crisis,” said Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough.
However, the Kremlin also began restricting Twitter last week, according to data from the global Internet monitoring service Netblocks, which recorded limited access to several Russian telecommunications service providers.
Alp Toker, Founder and CEO of Netblocks, told CBS News that throttling is a deliberate information warfare tool commonly used by Russians to create further uncertainty.
“The only real incentive to restrict a platform to this degree is to create ambiguity and confusion around the restriction itself,” Toker said, adding that the resulting slow service gives the Russian government a reasonable denial.
“When a site is partially loaded, your first response is to blame a bad internet connection, not the government or the country. This ambiguity is a place where misinformation can thrive on its own.”
Miliano noted that he was surprised that the Kremlin did not block even more sites – including websites in English.
However, as more and more Russians turn to VPN services to circumvent Internet restrictions, the demand for VPNs has increased by almost 700% compared to before the invasion, according to the Top 10 VPNs.
“I think there will be more and more of this question about how you approach people,” Toker said. “As we look at our measurements over the last few days, we have seen the internet shut down so quickly, it looks like we may be meeting a new Iran or China in terms of connectivity.”
Add Comment