MOSCOW: Russia´s internet watchdog on Tuesday announced it was throttling the Telegram messenger platform for alleged legal violations, as Moscow tries to push its citizens into using a more tightly controlled domestic online service.
Moscow has been threatening various internet platforms with forced slowdowns or outright bans if they do not comply with Russian laws.
Those laws require data on Russian users to be stored inside the country, and for efforts to be made to stamp out their use for what Moscow calls “criminal and terrorist purposes”.
Critics and rights campaigners say the restrictions are a transparent attempt by the Kremlin to ramp up control and surveillance over internet use in Russia, amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent during the Ukraine offensive.
The Roskomnadzor agency said in a statement cited by state media that it will “continue to introduce phased restrictions” on Telegram, which it said had not complied with the laws.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned what it called a continuous “strategy to strangle the circulation of information” and noted that Russia ranks 171st out of 180 in its World Press Freedom Index.
Amnesty International meanwhile branded the move “censorship and obstruction under the guise of protecting people´s rights and interests”.
