Following the Russian state censor, Roskomnadzor (RKN), moving to throttle Twitter traffic in Russia, the social network has started work on removing banned content. According to a statement from Roskomnadzor, however, the process is happening at an “unsatisfactory pace.”
RKN says that Twitter could have acknowledged the prohibited information and started removing it “much earlier” and, in doing so, “ruled out long-term harm to Russian Internet users.”
“The pace of the removal of banned information by the social network is unsatisfactory. Two thirds of the content harmful to children remains accessible on Twitter. In addition, unfortunately, there are new publications of child pornography, materials promoting suicide, and information about the distribution and use of drugs, which is absolutely unacceptable.”
Roskomnadzor also expressed regret that it took “technical enforcement measures” to force “the American social network to acknowledge that they have information that’s an absolute evil in all countries of the world.”
Roskomnadzor began slowing down Twitter traffic in Russia on March 10. A week later, the federal censor threatened to block the social network entirely if it didn’t fulfil orders to remove banned content within a month.
RKN has warned that other social networks that “violate Russian law” could also be throttled or blocked.