Twitter accused of breaking law on extremism, media watchdog says

Twitter has been accused of failing to comply with Russia’s law on countering extremism, after the social networking site refused to hand over information about any of the user accounts requested since June 2014 by Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media watchdog. Head of Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov, told RIA Novosti that while “[Twitter] granted almost 3,000 US government requests for disclosure of personal information on users in 2014, of the 108 requests for disclosure of users’ personal data from Roskomnadzor, Twitter has provided none”.

Zharov called Twitter’s behaviour “puzzling”, and singled out the site’s statement refusing “to satisfy requests for blocking popular opponents of the Russian government and other demands to restrict free speech in relation to non-violent demonstrations in Ukraine”.

Roskomnadzor will send Twitter an appeal to explain its position, says Zharov, as “the question over the acceptability of such a position for a company that operates in the territory of the Russian Federation” is being called into question.

In May last year, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev allayed concerns that Twitter would be blocked in the country, after Roskomnadzor deputy head Maxim Ksenzov said in an interview that Twitter’s repeated refusal to agree to the watchdog’s demands created conditions which made “blocking the service in Russia almost inevitable”.

The law on extremism in Russia has been used to force internet providers to block websites deemed “extremist”, which many consider to be thinly veiled attempts to stifle dissent online. The popular LiveJournal blog of opposition activist Alexei Navalny was blocked in March last year after it was added to a list of banned sites accused of publishing extremist material.