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Medvedev emphasizes need to restrict tech giants from meddling in Russian elections

The deputy head of the Russian Security Council noted that the activities "of all these tech giants are often times controlled only by their corporate rules," based on which they make decisions to punish or have mercy on someone

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. Foreign tech giants can and should be restricted from interfering in Russian elections, Chairman of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev, who also serves as Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council, said in an interview with the RT TV channel.

When asked if US tech giants should be restricted and punished for disparaging certain candidates, in particular, Medvedev said: "They should and can be." According to the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, "in this sense, everyone, including the United States, is quite tired of tech behemoths." "Even the Biden administration, which at some point seemed to have an advantage over the Trump team in the digital field, is still considering, as far as I understand, adopting special legislation on the matter," he noted.

Medvedev emphasized that the activities "of all these tech giants are often times controlled only by their corporate rules," based on which they make decisions to punish or have mercy on someone. In this regard, he mentioned the blocking of former US President Donald Trump's accounts. "They did not make those decisions based on US laws and judicial precedents recorded in a competent US court, but instead based on their own corporate rules," Medvedev pointed out.

The Russian Security Council's deputy head also noted that he had "quite a lot of subscribers" on Twitter, "about 4.5 million." "When I looked at the subscription recommendations that Twitter had for me, the first one was [blogger Alexey] Navalny, who is currently serving his prison sentence. It is interference in the affairs of another country, isn't it? It clearly is," Medvedev stressed.