Russia Plans To Shut Facebook For Its Election
Russia’s communications watchdog has threatened to shut down Facebook if it fails to comply with a controversial law on data storage.
Critics say the law, which requires websites that store the personal data of Russian citizens to do so on Russian servers, is designed to curtail freedom. They predict that it could be used against social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google that provide a platform for dissent against the rule of President Putin.
Alexander Zharov, the head of Roskomnadzor, the regulator, said that if Facebook did not co-operate the social network would be blocked in Russia next year, when Mr Putin is expected to stand for re-election.
“The law is obligatory for all,” he told reporters in Moscow. “In any case, we will either achieve implementation of the law, or the Facebook will cease working on the territory of the Russian Federation, as happened, unfortunately, with LinkedIn. There are no exceptions here.”
LinkedIn, the business and employment networking website, which had about six million users in Russia, was blocked in November. It was the first social media company to fall foul of the law, which was approved by Mr Putin in 2014.
The threat of the ban was made days after Facebook said it would hand details of 3,000 advertisements bought by a Russian “troll farm” during the US presidential election last year to Congress. Facebook said the ads were intended to sow discord among the American electorate by amplifying “divisive social and political messages”.
Mr Zharov said his watchdog did not plan to inspect Facebook this year but it would probably come under scrutiny in 2018. “We perfectly realise that Facebook has a significant number of users in Russia, but on the other hand we understand it is not a unique service, there are other social networks,” he added.
Russia’s most popular social networking site is VKontakte. Its founder, Pavel Durov, clashed with the Russian authorities after street protests against Mr Putin’s role in 2011, when he refused a request to shut down pages linked to opposition activists. The company later came under the control of Alisher Usmanov, the Kremlin-supporting tycoon and Arsenal shareholder.
Roskomnadzor has wide powers to close sites deemed “extremist”. Three political news websites sympathetic to Russia’s opposition were closed in 2014 for “calling for illegal action”.
WhatsApp has been temporarily blocked in China, weeks before the ruling Communist Party is due to convene to reaffirm the leadership of President Xi. Users of the app, which is run by Facebook, were unable to send or receive messages, although the interruption lasted no more than 24 hours for many.
No one has claimed responsibility but it is consistent with Beijing’s control of instant messaging services. Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, and Instagram are inaccessible from China.
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