According to Russia's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, Russia will slow down the loading speed of Twitter on phones and laptops in the country. Rosklmnadzor added that the move was to protect Russians from the danger Twitter poses.
Earlier this year, Roskomnadzor accused Twitter and other social media sites of not removing posts that urged people to protest against the arrest of detained Kremlin critic, Alex Navalny. The media watchdog has already sued the companies for failing to adhere to its demands.
Roskomnadzor claims that Twitter was not doing enough to remove banned content
According to Roskomnadzor, the decision to slow down twitter's loading speed on phones and laptops in the country is because the social media company was failing to remove banned content from its site.
But there were reports that there was a widespread reduction of the internet's speed in the country. Immediately after the announcement was made, notable Russian websites including Roskomnadzor own went down. The media watchdog later released a statement saying that the bad internet was not related to the action taken against Twitter.
Twitter is a popular social media site amongst Kremlin opposers. It was used by Alex Navalny before his detention, and it was used to spread information about the protests that occurred because of his detention.
President Putin gave Roskomnadzor the power to restrict social media sites
President Vladimir Putin gave Roskomnadzor the power to restrict social media accounts if they acted in a way that "discriminated against Russian media". Putin blamed social media sites last month for trying to manipulate and control state governments, citing the banning of Donald Trump from most social sites as an example.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin said Russia had no intention of blocking social media sites from the country, but the companies had to follow Russia's laws. He added that the Kremlin's decision was made to ensure Russians acted within the laws of the state.
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