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Blocking Russian delegation’s page was act of censorship — Human Rights Council member

Facebook unblocked the Russian delegation’s page only on January 17

MOSCOW, January 17./TASS/. Kirill Vyshinsky from the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights sees Facebook’s blocking the page of the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on security and arms control as an act of censorship.

"I support the assessment from Roskomnadzor (Russian telecommunications watchdog) that dubbed the moves from Facebook as an act of censorship. What happened could be a certain form of pressure on our delegation that was stripped of a possibility to voice its position via a popular means of getting information - social media," the Council’s Telegram channel cited Vyshinsky as saying.

Vyshinsky also noted that through its action, Facebook had demonstrated that "the previous decisions by the Russian official agencies on penalties hadn’t changed its policy, going against the basic principles of the freedom of speech and the circulation of information".

The head of the Russian delegation, Konstantin Gavrilov, told TASS on Sunday that Facebook had banned access to the delegation’s official account on Friday, citing prohibited content as a reason. However, according to the Russian diplomat, the delegation only reposted statements by the Russian leaders and the Russian foreign ministry.

Facebook unblocked the Russian delegation’s page only on January 17.

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