The Russian government has blocked access to social media platforms Facebook and Twitter in all parts of the Russian Federation. The decision was announced Friday by the Russian federal government.
“Since October 2020, 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook have been recorded. In recent days, the social network has restricted access to accounts: the Zvezda TV channel, the RIA Novosti news agency, Sputnik, Russia Today, the Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru information resources,” the Russian government said.
"The above restrictions are prohibited by Federal Law No. 272-FZ “On measures to influence persons involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation”, adopted, among other things, to prevent violations of the key principles of the free flow of information and unhindered access Russian users to Russian media on foreign Internet platforms," the Russian government said. A state communications agency Roskomnadzor had previously accused Twitter not deleting banned content. Twitter said it is “aware of reports” that it was blocked, but as of Friday had not been able to confirm it. Critics see it as a way to tamp down growing dissent in the country over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Last week the government ordered Facebook to stop fact-checking the government posts, which Facebook and its parent company Meta then refused to do. BBC, Bloomberg, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and CNN have all stopped broadcasting in Russia and say they are evaluating the situation. This is a rapidly changing situation. Reporting today may be quickly overtaken by events.
