Moscow Urges Facebook, Twitter to Reconsider Policy of Blocking Russian Accounts
MOSCOW, September 3- The Russian Foreign Ministry urged Facebook and Twitter, after they blocked accounts from Russia, to reconsider such policy to comply with international norms. “We drew attention to the fact that social networks Facebook and Twitter once again blocked and then deleted 18 accounts and two pages of allegedly Russian origin under the pretext…
MOSCOW, September 3 (Sputnik) – The Russian Foreign Ministry urged Facebook and Twitter, after they blocked accounts from Russia, to reconsider such policy to comply with international norms.
“We drew attention to the fact that social networks Facebook and Twitter once again blocked and then deleted 18 accounts and two pages of allegedly Russian origin under the pretext of violation of their rules on the inadmissibility of foreign interference,” the ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The administration of the social networks justifies their restrictive measures by conclusions of an investigation carried out against the deleted accounts, which is allegedly based on some FBI data, she said.
Zakharova also drew attention to the fact that “the authors of the accounts are accused of trying to inspire the audience with a radical leftist view, as well as of publishing criticism of both candidates for the US presidency.”
“Allegedly, the fact of the so-called coordinated, inauthentic behavior has been established, that is, the pages distributed content of Russian news agencies without notifying readers about it,” she added.
“These are, of course, ‘strong’ arguments, and we understand that not everything is as it is presented, and such a complex logical chain could hardly serve as a reason for another censoring of Russian media content,” Zakharova said.
“It seems like the US side is simply trying to keep its favorite topic afloat, these speculations, which, in our opinion, have exhausted themselves and are doing this specifically in the context of the upcoming US elections in November,” she said.
“We call on Internet platforms to reconsider their policies toward complying with fundamental international legal norms, democratic principles in the field of ensuring freedom of speech and expression,” she concluded, adding that the Russian side hopes for an impartial assessment of corporate actions by relevant international agencies.
