Russia Sees Twitter’s Actions Toward RIA Novosti Account As Censorship – Foreign Ministry

Moscow views the actions of social network Twitter in relation to RIA Novosti account as an act of censorship and part of a politically motivated campaign, and expects relevant international organizations to assess these actions, the Russian Foreign ministry said on Monday

MOSCOW views the actions of social network Twitter in relation to RIA Novosti account as an act of censorship and part of a politically motivated campaign, and expects relevant international organizations to assess these actions, the Russian Foreign ministry said on Monday.

Earlier, Twitter removed RIA Novosti account from the search results. Users who have not subscribed to the agency’s page cannot find it either in Russia or in other countries. Previously, Twitter blocked RT and Sputnik accounts in the same way.

“We regard the forced downgrade of the position of RIA Novosti account in search results by the administration of social network Twitter as another act of censorship and discrimination against the Russian media, violating the fundamental democratic principles of freedom of expression and equal access to information,” the ministry said in a statement.

It noted that “biased actions of the US IT corporation” were a continuation of the politically motivated campaign launched earlier by Twitter and Facebook to label the pages of the Russian media as “state-affiliated.

“At the same time, such measures are not applied to Western media resources financed through the government. It seems that, at the suggestion of official Washington, a purposeful line is being pursued to oust Russian media from the international media scene. We call on the Twitter administration to revise the policy restricting the audience’s right to free access to information and to abandon the use of anti-democratic tools of unfair competition of the US news mainstream with alternative media sources,” the ministry said.

“We expect that specialized international structures and human rights organizations will respond appropriately and give an impartial assessment of the restrictive actions of the US IT corporation,” it added.

Agencies-Haifaa Mafalani