MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday it would extend a slowdown on Twitter until May 15, although it acknowledged that the US social media company had expedited the removal of what Moscow calls banned content.
Moscow traditionally takes a more practical role in policing than neighboring China. But as friction has increased this year over the arrest and jail term of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, it has indicated a stricter line.
Russia has been hampering the speed of Twitter since March for failing to remove content it considers illegal, threatening to block it altogether. Photos and videos take longer for some users to upload.
However, in a statement Monday, state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said Twitter had talks with Russian authorities on April 1, leading to an agreement to give it more time and recognition that banned content would be removed more quickly.
Twitter confirmed the talks with Russia.
“It was a productive discussion about how we can both work to ensure that reports of such illegal content are dealt with promptly,” reads a statement.
Roskomnadzor said that on average, Twitter removed illegal content within 81 hours of receiving a request. It is still much longer than the 24 hours required by law.
Russian authorities have accused Twitter and others this year of not removing posts that Moscow allegedly illegally requested children to take part in the protests against the Kremlin.
Roskomnadzor says he wants Twitter to remove content that contains child pornography, information about drug abuse or that minors should commit suicide.
Twitter denies that it has allowed its platform to be used to promote illegal behavior, saying it has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual exploitation of children, and bans the promotion of suicide or self-harm.
After Russia announced the move to slow down its traffic, Twitter said it was concerned about the impact on freedom of speech.
Russia has tried but failed to block the popular messaging app Telegram in 2018.
Roskomnadzor did not say how it was delaying Twitter, but internet freedom advocates believe it may involve policing and deep packet inspection (DPI), a form of data processing that could block and redirect certain internet traffic.
Leonid Evdokimov, a technical expert at Roskomsvoboda, a group that monitors Internet freedom in Russia, said the authorities seemed technically more competent and that it was probably more realistic to block Twitter.
Major social media companies are involved not only in Russia but also around the world in an increasing number of disputes while governments want to curb their power.
Reporting by Tom Balmforth, Maxim Rodionov, Alexander Marrow; Edited by Alison Williams, Andrew Cawthorne and Barbara Lewis