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Russia will block Twitter within a month if it fails to delete banned content, authoritiestoldstate media Tuesday.

Vadim Subbotin, the deputy chief of Russias state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor, issued the warning a week after the country began slowing down the social media platforms speed over the dispute. The agency acted amid tensions with western social media platforms over what Moscow calls censorship against its state-affiliated accounts.

Weve taken a month to watch Twitters reaction on the issue of removing prohibited information. Appropriate decisions will be made depending on the social network administrations actions, the state-run TASS news agency quoted Subbotin as saying.

If Twitter doesnt comply with Roskomnadzor and Russian legislations requirements, then we will consider the issue of completely blocking the service in Russia, he warned.

The watchdog says the banned content at the center of the conflict involves more than 3,000 posts containing information about suicide, child pornography and drugs that apparently remained online since 2017. Polls say a mere 3% of Russians use Twitter.

Experts interviewed by The Moscow Times called Russias announcement that it would disrupt Twitter access unprecedented but noted that it was unclear how it would be carried out.

The Kremlin has said it supports Roskomnadzors efforts to force foreign platforms to comply with Russian law.

President Vladimir Putin last month raised fines for social media giants accused of discriminating against Russian media. On New Years Eve, he granted Roskomnadzor the power to block social media platforms if they are found to discriminate against Russian media.

Putinaccusedsocial media giants in January of controlling society and restricting the right to freely express viewpoints.

Russia previously banned the social networking website LinkedIn for failing to store users data on Russian servers and, more recently, reversed a decision to ban the Telegram messaging app after a two-year attempt to block it.

This article first appeared inThe Moscow Timesand is republished in a sharing partnership with the Barents Observer.

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Russia threatens to block Twitter within 30 days | The Independent Barents Observer - The Independent Barents Observer