Russia says Twitter not removing 'banned' information

MOSCOW: Russia's telecommunications watchdog said Thursday that Twitter had still not deleted more than 3,000 posts containing illegal content after Moscow began disrupting Twitter's services in the country.

On Wednesday, Roskomnadzor said it began slowing down the US social media giant's work in Russia, saying Twitter failed to comply with its requests to delete content related to child pornography, drug use and calls for minors to commit suicide.

"As of March 11, 2021, more than 3,100 publications containing banned information have not been deleted," Roskomnadzor said in a statement on Thursday.

"There has not been a response to a Roskomnadzor request to delete banned materials containing child pornography, pro-drug and suicide content."

The communications watchdog reiterated that the measures only affect posts with photo, video and graphics.

"The owners of the social media network should bring its work in Russia into compliance with our country's legislation," Roskomnadzor added.

Late Wednesday, Twitter denounced Russia's attempts to "block and throttle online public conversation".

The media giant said it had a "zero-tolerance" policy regarding "child sexual exploitation" and did not promote suicide and self-harm.

In recent months, the Kremlin has been clamping down on online platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for hosting content that included calls for protests in support of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

President Vladimir Putin has warned against the increasing influence of large tech companies, saying they are "competing" with sovereign states.