Russia blocks Twitter & Facebook as Putin tightens his grip on information

What you need to know

Russia has blocked Facebook and Twitter.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues and Russia is trying to control information.

Russia has blocked two huge social networks as the invasion of Ukraine continues.

Russia has blocked both Twitter and Facebook as the country further tries to control the information moving both into and out of it.

As Putin’s Russia continued its assault on Ukraine Facebook was the first to go. Russian communications agency Roskomnadzor announced that it was blocking the social network and cited 26 instances of “discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook” since October 2020 as the reason. In response, Facebook’s Nick Clegg tweeted to say that the move would impact Russian users while the company worked to get services back online.

On the Russian government’s decision to block access to Facebook in the Russian Federation: pic.twitter.com/JlJwIu1t9K

— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) March 4, 2022

Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out. We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action.

Next came the news via Interfax that Twitter had also been blocked by order of the same communications outfit. Twitter is yet to comment on the news.

The social network Twitter has been blocked in Russian territory, Roskomnadzor (RKN) said.

In line with RKN’s service for checking blocks of webpages and websites, access to the online resource twitter.com is restricted across Russia based on the Prosecutor General’s Office demand dated February 24.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen various companies withdraw their services and products from the country. Apple made changes to Apple Maps and removed two Russian news apps from international App Stores. The company also removed products from sale in Russia, while Facebook also removed Russian news pages.

It isn’t yet clear whether Facebook or Twitter will be made available to Russian people or indeed if workarounds including VPNs will get people back onto their social network of choice.

Outside of Russia, the situation in Ukraine continues to worsen with upwards of one million people displaced as part of the ongoing fighting, according to reports.