‘Russia is trying to block some social media giants to block the right to freedom of expression, while some other social media are blocking their applications to prevent misinformation.’
The world’s social media giants have been blocked from using it by the Russian government while several other apps have had to limit services to curb misinformation from spreading.
In general, Russia is working to tightly control access to technology and the internet that critics say is a threat to individual and corporate freedom rights.
In addition, Moscow is also actively threatening the domestic media to block news that is described as 'misinformation' about its military operations in Ukraine.
Here are some of the social media giants blocked by Russia.
Moscow has restricted access to Meta Platform Inc.'s Facebook, accusing the app of 'censoring' Russian media.
Facebook has ignored demands to lift restrictions on 4 Russian media channels — the RIA news agency; Zvezda TV belongs to the Russian Ministry of Defense; as well as the websites gazeta.ru and lenta.ru.
A statement from Meta said it was in an effort to curb misinformation by working with external fact checkers including Reuters to evaluate content for truth, in addition to limiting content that was rated false or altered.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has removed hundreds of YouTube channels as well as thousands of videos for violating policies and is working to curb campaigns of misinformation and hackers.
Google has also temporarily deactivated the use of Google Map Live in Ukraine as a security measure for Ukrainians attacked by Russia.
Google Maps has blocked two features in Ukraine that provide information to users in real time, the company confirmed to CNN on Sunday. https://t.co/lKtazvIXQR
- CNN (@CNN) February 28, 2022
Twitter said some users of its app in Russia had been blocked.
Twitter also said users in Russia and Ukraine are unable to see ads at this time as one of the measures to avoid disruption of public safety messages.
Twitter did not issue any statement on whether the Russian side was in touch with its company about any action or not.
Telegram
Telegram is considering blocking some of its channel operations if the situation in Ukraine worsens.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the app was a source of misinformation and he did not want Telegram to be a tool to worsen the situation between Russia and Ukraine.
