Russian authorities have slowed down Twitter's internet speed and threatened to block the site altogether for failing to take down ...
Russian authorities have slowed down Twitter's internet speed and threatened to block the site altogether for failing to take down 'banned' content.
Officials say Twitter has been punished for failing to remove material about suicide, drugs and child pornography.
But it comes after authorities lashed out against social networks which Kremlin critics have used to organise protests over Alexei Navalny's imprisonment.
Regulators called on Twitter to 'take a constructive stance' but warned that if could be blocked entirely if it failed to abide by Russian law.
Vladimir Putin's authorities have lashed out at social networks which have been widely used by critics of the Kremlin to organise protest rallies
Russia's communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said the speed of uploading videos and photos to Twitter would be deliberately slowed down as punishment.
Vadim Subbotin, deputy chief of Roskomnadzor, said in televised remarks that Twitter is the only social platform that has 'openly ignored the Russian authorities' demand to remove the banned content'.
Russian authorities have assailed social media platforms for failing to remove calls for children to join opposition protests which is against the law in Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the government has 'no desire to block anything,' but added that it was necessary to enforce compliance with the law.
The move against Twitter is part of ongoing efforts by the government to tighten control over social platforms.
In 2014, the authorities adopted a law requiring online services to store the personal data of Russian users on servers in Russia and have since tried to make Facebook and Twitter to comply with it.
Both companies have been repeatedly fined, first small amounts of around $50 and last year the equivalent of $63,000 for not complying.
Vladimir Putin last year signed a further array of laws giving Russia new powers to restrict US social media giants that 'discriminate' against its media.
Supporters of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny demand his release after he was arrested and imprisoned on his return to Russia from Germany
Twitter currently labels some Russian outlets as 'state-affiliated media', a move decried by Moscow.
One new law introduces hefty fines for sites that repeatedly fail to remove banned content.
The fines would be calculated at up to 20 per cent of the firm's Russia-based turnover in the previous year.
The government has stopped short of outright bans even though the law allows it, likely fearing that the move would elicit too much public outrage.
Only the social network LinkedIn, which was never especially popular in Russia, has been banned by the authorities for the failure to store user data in Russia.
As the Russian authorities moved Wednesday to slow down Twitter, some Russian government websites suffered outages and access problems.
It were not clear if those were connected, and some experts suggested they could have been the result of unrelated cyberattacks.
Russia's ministry of digital development acknowledged that some government websites suffered outages, but charged that they were linked to equipment problems at communications provider Rostelecom.
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