MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. The United States’ Meta Platforms company (which owns Facebook) has not disclosed the reasons why it briefly blocked the page of Russia’s delegation at the Vienna talks on security and arms control, Russia’s telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor told TASS.
"Although the demand for lifting restrictions from the official page of the Russian delegation in Vienna to military security and arms control talks was met within a one-day deadline, Roskomnadzor points out that the management of the US social network Facebook provided no official explanations why the restrictions had been introduced," the watchdog’s press-service said.
Earlier, Facebook management limited access to the Russian delegation’s official page. Roskomnadzor on January 16 demanded the account should be unblocked at once. The watchdog said Facebook’s management had violated the key principles of freedom of and unhampered access to information. The watchdog described the social network’s actions as "an act of censorship, prohibited under the Russian Constitution."
Facebook unblocked the Russian delegation’s page on January 17.
A source close to the watchdog said that "the possibility of slowing down the operation of Facebook in Russia was considered."
"The necessary administrative and technical preparations were made for slowing down the service’s operation in Russia," the source said.
Roskomnadzor has used the traffic slowdown method before. In March 2021, the watchdog declared a slowdown of Twitter’s speed in Russia in retaliation for its failure to delete banned content. In May, the agency lifted restrictions from access to Twitter in fixed networks after 90% of the outlawed content was deleted. The slowdown of the social network’s speed on mobile devices remains.