All news

Russia has no plans to block Western social networks — Putin

However, according to the president, they do not always comply with the demands of the Russian authorities

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Russia’s authorities are not planning to block Western social networks, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his Q&A session, known as the Direct Line, on Wednesday.

"No, we don’t have such plans. We are not planning to block anyone. We are planning to work with them," the president said.

However, according to Putin, Western social networks do not always comply with the demands of the Russian authorities.

"They tell us to go elsewhere, when they do not honor our requirements and Russian laws. And when they say to us: you know, we will work here and if you don’t like something we will give you beads and you should enjoy what we gave to you and what is shining brightly. This is disrespectful. If you work in our country, you earn decent money and you should abide by our laws," Putin stated.

Social networks regulation

Putin also noted that Russia’s authorities do not demand anything special from social networks. "So, at the first stage I hope that everything will be limited to the first stage. We insist and demand that all international platforms open their full-fledged representation offices and legal entities, with whom we could hold dialogue," he said.

"And we tell them - you disseminate child pornography or suicide instructions and how to make Molotov cocktails and so on. You should remove this. And they simply don’t listen and even don’t want to listen to what we say," Putin explained.

"But this is wrong. No self-respecting country in the world behaves like this. And in Europe and moreover in Asia everyone insists that such work should be civilized. Moreover, they don’t behave in a very civilized way in their own countries."

The president expressed hope that this problem will be ironed out. "We understand that we are heard and some colleagues are planning to do this - to open representative offices. If they do not do this or when they open a representation office they do not listen to the requirements of Russian laws, then there are various technical means, including slowing down the speed and so on," he said.