MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2021) Russian laws regulating social media are enough and blocking such resources in case of unfriendly actions toward Russia would be too harsh, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said, adding that slowing down internet traffic would be a better response measure.
"I think that they [Russian laws] are currently enough, if social media act in unfriendly ways, if they refuse to publish Russian information, if they take an obviously unfriendly stance with regard to our country, we have the ability to influence them," Medvedev said in an interview with Russian media.
He added that there needs to be a general agreement on certain rules regulating social media, especially in light of the blocking of accounts and pages on western resources, such as the Twitter and Facebook bans of Former US President Donald Trump.
"There is the [Russian] Prosecutor General's Office, which at a certain point can make a number of decisions, including decisions such as slowing down traffic or suspending work [of social media]. But suspension is very tough, radical, while slowing down traffic is a potentially working measure. We just wouldn't want to let it come to that and I'm sure other countries are also thinking about it right now," Medvedev said.
The security council deputy chairman pointed to certain political bias in social media, despite them being corporate structures. Medvedev said Trump bans were "beyond understanding" and clearly showed that western social media were on the side of the Democrats. Medvedev also expressed concerns over the fact that the first page that Twitter recommends to Russia-based users is that of opposition figure Alexey Navalny.
