Russia has officially banned Discord, a popular instant chat platform.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media watchdog, barred Discord on Tuesday, claiming it did not meet the country’s regulatory criteria.
For several years, Russia has required international tech companies to remove content they consider illegal, incurring fines for noncompliance.
Roskomnadzor recently ordered Discord to erase almost 1,000 illicit goods, and the business has already been penalised for failing to remove forbidden content.
Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has blocked additional platforms such as Signal Messenger, X, Facebook, and Instagram.
The media regulator’s press service noted that the measure was taken because the platform could be used for “terrorist and extremist purposes, recruitment of citizens to commit them, the sale of drugs, in connection with the placement of illegal information.”
Meanwhile, in Turkey, debates about potentially censoring Discord have sparked concern following allegations of kids being bullied and blackmailed on the platform.
Abdulkadir Uraloglu, Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, responded to these concerns, noting that there are presently no intentions to block Discord.
The report stated that Discord’s compliance breach resulted in a $36,150 fine.
Roskomnadzor stated that Discord did not cooperate with the request to remove 947 illicit materials from the platform. Furthermore, the messaging platform failed to comply with a court order to remove illegal information.
Discord did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia has for several years forced international technology platforms to remove content it considers unlawful, awarding relatively minor but regular fines when it determines that corporations have failed to comply.
We earlier reported that Hackers from the “VO Team” group and cyber experts from Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) “congratulated” Russian President Vladimir Putin on his 72nd birthday on Monday, October 7, by breaking into the state-run automated “Pravosudie” system.
