Russia took action to restrict access to Twitter while its occupation of Ukraine continued. From the early hours of Saturday morning, the internet monitor saw the platform go almost completely blacked out at all major Russian telecom providers, including NetBlocks, Rostelecom and MTS. Currently, Russian citizens and visitors to the country can access Twitter using VPN services, but directly accessing the website is nearly impossible.
Twitter confirmed the reports at 11:51 a.m. ET. “We are aware that Twitter is restricted for some people in Russia and are working to keep our service secure and accessible,” the company said.
Currently, Russians are reportedly able to continue to access Facebook and Instagram, but that could change. On Friday, the country’s telecom regulator, Roskomnadzor, began partially restricting access to Facebook after Meta refused to stop controlling and tagging content from state-owned news outlets. During this statement, Roskomnadzor accused Facebook of violating “the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens”.
It’s unclear why Russia took action to block Twitter, but all the videos of the conflict you see on the platform may have played a role in the decision. For example, Russia claims that its airstrikes did not target civilian infrastructure, but several widely circulated videos appear to suggest otherwise. These clips and others paint a very different picture of the occupation than the Russian state media suggests.
NetBlocks director Alp Toker said in a meeting with the BBC, “Russia’s restriction of Twitter will significantly limit the free flow of information in a time of crisis when the public needs the most information.”
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