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| Russia extends punitive Twitter slowdown until May |
Russia said on Monday: Although it acknowledged that the US social media company has stepped up the removal of banned content, it extended its slowness of punishment on the Twitter platform until May 15.
Compared to neighboring China, Moscow has historically played a smaller role in electronic surveillance. However, due to the arrest and imprisonment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navani, competition has intensified this year in Moscow and this appears to be more difficult.
Since March, Russia has slowed access to the Twitter platform by not removing content that Moscow considers illegal and threatening to block it altogether.
Due to this punitive slowdown, some users are taking longer to upload photos and videos.
Twitter held talks with Russian authorities on April 1 that resulted in a deal that gave it more time and approval to remove the banned content, government guard Roskomnadzor said in a statement on Monday.
Twitter confirmed the conversation with Russia, saying in a statement: This is a fruitful discussion of how we can both ensure we both deal with reports of such illegal content expeditiously.
"Twitter removed illegal content within an average of 81 hours of receiving the request, which is still much longer than the 24 hours required by law," Roskomnadzor said.
Russian authorities accused Twitter and others of not removing messages from Moscow this year illegally urging children to participate in protests against the Kremlin.
Roskomnadzor said she wants Twitter to remove content that includes child pornography, information on drugs, and suicide calls from minors.
Twitter refused to allow its platform to be used to promote illegal behavior, indicating that it adopts a zero-tolerance policy for child sexual exploitation and prohibits the promotion of suicide or self-harm.
After Russia announced it was slowing traffic, Twitter expressed concern about the impact on freedom of expression.
Besides Russia, major social media companies are getting involved in more and more conflicts around the world as the government tries to limit their influence.