While Russian authorities have in recent months ramped up pressure on foreign social media and video hosting platforms, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today he hopes Russia will not be forced to block them.
“No one wants a full ban and it would be silly to advocate for one, but it’s necessary to force these companies to follow our rules,” Peskov said in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty weekly.
“We’d like to hope that it won’t come to that and that ways to resolve the conflict will be found,” he added.
Earlier this month, Internet and telecom regulator Roskomnadzor began disrupting Twitter services in Russia. According to the authorities, the US platform failed to comply with its requests to delete content allegedly promoting child pornography, drug use and calls for minors to commit suicide.
The authorities went as far as threatening to fully block the service, should Twitter fail to comply with their demands.
Russia is also suing Facebook, Google, TikTok, Telegram and Twitter for failing to delete posts which allegedly urged minors to take part in illegal protests earlier this year.
Commenting on the Russian President’s personal attitude to social networks, Peskov said that Putin had no media accounts and did not want to waste time keeping any.
“He does not need it. He has relatives and loved ones who show and tell him things,” the spokesman said.
