Twitter Faces Total Blocking In Russia

Russia stated on Wednesday that Twitter may be blocked totally in the country if the US platform does not comply with its deletion demands. Presently, Russia is slowing down the speed of Twitter in retaliation for its alleged failure to remove banned content.

The move came weeks after Russian authorities accused Twitter and others of failing to delete posts it said illegally urged children to take part in anti-kremin protests, which escalates a growing stand-off between Moscow and the US-based social media platform.

Russia has traditionally taken a more hands-off role in policing the internet than neighbouring China. But as domestic political tensions have risen this year over the arrest and jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, something which triggered nationwide protests, it has signaled a tougher line, according to Reuters.

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Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, said in a statement that as of Wednesday there were more than 3,000 posts containing illegal content on Twitter, which it accused of ignoring its deletion requests for years.

Twitter has been under pressure in Russia after it was named as one of five social media platforms being sued for allegedly failing to delete posts urging children to take part in illegal protests, the Interfax news agency cited a Moscow court as saying on Tuesday.

The content related to the opposition protest was not mentioned by the regulator on Wednesday’s statement, but referred to what it said was illegal; content on Twitter containing child pornography, information about drug abuse and calls for minors to commit suicide.

"The slowing down will be applied to 100percent of mobile devices and on 50 percent of non-mobile devices," the regulator said.

"If (Twitter) continues to ignore the requirements of the law, the enforcement measures will be continued... (right up to blocking it)," the regulator said.

An official of the watchdog, Vadim Subbotin said it was possible that the authorities could target and slow down internet platforms if they failed to comply with the law, the Interfax news agency reported.