Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova compared the decision of the largest American Internet platforms to block the accounts of US President Donald Trump with a nuclear explosion in the cyber environment.
She noted that for this, the platforms did not need "neither a court decision, nor the opinion of at least some profile structure on ethics."
“They just took and disconnected multimillion-dollar official accounts from the audience,” Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page.
The representative of the Foreign Ministry drew attention to the fact that "even the most loyal partners of the United States, who certainly do not harbor tender feelings for Donald Trump, could not withstand such an attack on Western values," mentioning, in particular, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“A blow has been struck at the democratic values declared by the Western community;
In one fell swoop, both the apologists of the “darknet” and the advocates of strict censorship received a reinforced concrete argument in defending their approaches;
the reshaping of the media market and the largest digital migration began, ”Zakharova stressed.
Earlier, Donald Trump, in an address to fellow citizens, said that the United States is now experiencing an unprecedented attack on free speech in the country.
“I would like to comment on the unprecedented encroachment on freedom of speech that we witnessed the other day.
Times are tense now, not easy.
Trying to subject our fellow citizens to censorship, "cancellation", blacklisting them is wrong and dangerous, "the US President said.
Thus, Trump reacted to the blocking of his accounts on most American social networks.
According to him, in the current situation in the country, the opposing sides should listen to each other more, and not limit the opportunity to express their opinions.
Donald Trump's speech
AFP
© Mandel Ngan
“Now we need to listen to each other, and not silence each other.
We are all capable of our actions to make a choice in favor of overcoming hostility and finding mutual understanding and a common goal.
We must focus on achieving what is in the interests of the entire country.
It is about providing miraculous vaccines, defeating the pandemic, rebuilding the economy, protecting our national security and adhering to the rule of law.
Today, I call on all Americans to overcome the raging emotions now and to rally as one American people.
Let's make a choice in favor of going further united for the benefit of our families, our communities and our country, ”the US President urged.
Recall that Trump's accounts in a number of social networks were blocked in connection with the events of January 6.
On this day, Congress was supposed to formally consolidate the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the last elections by approving the results of the electoral vote.
However, congressmen were forced to suspend the meeting, as Trump supporters, who do not admit his defeat in the election, rushed into the Capitol.
The incident killed five people, including one police officer.
Democrats blamed Trump for these events and initiated impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.
Against this backdrop, large tech companies have decided to limit the president's ability to speak out on social media.
"Dangerous precedent"
One of the first social networks to block Trump's account was Twitter.
The president's account was permanently terminated.
The move was attributed to the risk of "further incitement to violence."
"After carefully reviewing the latest tweets posted to Donald Trump's account and the context that accompanies them - especially how they have been received and interpreted on Twitter and beyond - we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement to violence." , The company said in a statement.
Trump criticized this decision, noting that it was made in coordination with the Democratic Party.
“I have been saying for a long time that Twitter is increasingly restricting freedom of speech, and today Twitter employees, in agreement with Democrats and radical leftists, removed my account from their platform in order to silence me - and you, 75 million wonderful patriots who voted for me, ”the CBS News channel quotes one of the president's latest tweets.
Trump's message also said he was "exploring the possibility of creating in the near future" a new platform for communicating with voters.
It is worth noting that Trump had almost 89 million followers on Twitter, and his account was one of the ten most read.
He has been registered on this social network since 2009.
Head of Twitter Jack Dorsey
AFP
© Jim Watson
On January 13, Twitter head Jack Dorsey noted that the decision to block Trump was correct.
However, he acknowledged that such actions create a "dangerous precedent".
“The need to take such measures creates a rift in the public debate.
Such measures divide us.
They limit the ability to clarify the situation, make amends, and learn lessons.
And they create a precedent that I consider dangerous: the power of a person or a corporation over part of the global public discussion, ”he wrote on his Twitter page.
According to him, in the past, the wide possibilities of social networks to control content were compensated by the ability of users to leave for other platforms.
“The checks and balances of such a government have always been consistent with the fact that services like Twitter are a small part of the wider public debate going on across the Internet.
If some people disagree with our rules and how they are applied, then they can simply use another service on the Internet, ”Dorsey said.
However, the case with Trump, he noted, changed this alignment.
At the same time, Dorsey is convinced that there is no talk of any conspiracy of Internet companies against Trump.
“This concept was challenged last week when several of the mainstream ISPs also decided not to serve content that was deemed dangerous on their platforms.
I am convinced that these actions were not coordinated.
Rather, the companies came to their own conclusions or were inspired by the example of others, "- said the head of Twitter.
This concept was challenged last week when a number of foundational internet tool providers also decided not to host what they found dangerous.
I do not believe this was coordinated.
More likely: companies came to their own conclusions or were emboldened by the actions of others.
- jack (@jack) January 14, 2021
Total blocking
Facebook also blocked Trump from accessing its services.
On January 7, its head Mark Zuckerberg announced that Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts would remain frozen until the end of his presidency.
In addition, Facebook banned Trump supporters from posting calls for a review of the election results.
The company promised that employees of the social network security services will delete messages with the phrase "stop the theft" (stop the steal).
This is the slogan of Trump supporters, in which "theft" refers to the alleged election fraud, which, according to the electorate loyal to the incumbent, allowed Biden to win.
Similar measures will be applied to the social network Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.
On January 12, it became known that Trump's account also froze the video hosting YouTube.
The social network removed the president's last video released and suspended the ability to publish videos and host live broadcasts for seven days.
In addition, according to the Axios portal, the Snapchat social network intends to permanently block Trump's account on January 20, the day of Joe Biden's inauguration.
Protesters storm the US Capitol
Reuters
© Stephanie Keith
It is worth noting that measures to limit the ability to speak out on the Internet are applied in the United States not only to the accounts of Trump and his supporters, but also to entire social networks.
For example, Amazon has cut off the microblogging service Parler, popular with Trump supporters, from its cloud hosting Amazon Web Services.
The company explained this decision by the fact that the Parler service allegedly disseminated messages calling for violence.
Parler has already sued Amazon.
The statement of claim states that the termination of the Parler account is dictated by political hostility and is aimed at reducing competition in the microblogging market in favor of Twitter.
At the same time, the head of Parler, John Matze, in an interview with Reuters, noted that in the current circumstances there is a risk that the service will not be able to be restored.
In turn, Google and Apple have removed Parler from their app stores.
In the United States, by the way, retaliatory actions are also being taken against major social networks that have blocked Trump's accounts.
For example, Your T1 WiFi, an Internet service provider in Idaho, has restricted access to Facebook and Twitter due to the censorship of these companies.
At the same time, the restriction of access to social networks was made at the numerous requests of the provider's clients, noted in Your T1 WiFi.
However, it should be noted that such retaliatory actions are not massive and, as experts believe, are unlikely to be able to influence the situation.
Trump's experience demonstrates that such non-systemic candidates will always face resistance from the entire US political class, experts say.
“This is a signal for non-systemic politicians.
They must understand that people like Trump, even if they get to the top of the executive branch, will be tied hand and foot.
They will face great difficulties in implementing their political programs, ”American political scientist Mikhail Sinelnikov-Orishak said in an interview with RT.
According to the American political scientist Dmitry Drobnitsky, given the recent events, political and social life in the United States is unlikely to return to its former course in the near future.
“There will be no return to the former.
The liberal team that has come to power has no choice but to continue to push.
Hence the attempted impeachment seven days before the end of Trump's term and the demand to prosecute his followers.
The pressure after Biden's inauguration is set to mount as liberals have no other way to influence Trump's more than 70 million voters.
Their task is to make the most of the momentum that they have now, before the conservatives gather for a counterattack, ”concluded Drobnitsky.
"There is an attack on freedom of speech"
Against the background of the decisions made by American platforms to block Trump's accounts, Maria Zakharova also drew attention to the regular attempts by the United States to accuse the Russian side of alleged violations in relation to the work of the media.
In particular, she recalled the statement of the official Russian-speaking representative of the US State Department, Andrea Kalan, who expressed concern about "repressions in Russia against independent media", as well as amendments to the law "On foreign agents", and called on Russia "to respect the rights of its citizens."
“What's going on in the US?
Complete loss of coordination when making decisions in the information sphere?
Disorientation in space? ”Zakharova said.
She noted that in Russia, unlike the United States, the information and communication sphere is regulated by laws, and not by "endless chaotic decisions", and also stressed that the law on foreign agents is a mirror response to the repressive actions of the American authorities in relation to domestic media ...
In addition, the law on foreign media does not prohibit their activities, but only obliges them to register them properly.
In turn, the American legislation, Zakharova noted, is "a punitive tool to stifle an alternative position in the media."
"It is inconceivable that in a country that has proclaimed itself a" beacon of democracy, "RT correspondents are not allowed on Capitol Hill!"
Finally, Zakharova drew attention to the fact that the Foreign Ministry did not receive complaints from foreign correspondents working in the country, however, there are many cases when journalists in the Russian media have suffered from the actions or inaction of the American authorities.
In particular, the Foreign Ministry recalled how in May 2020 the police used nerve gas on a RIA Novosti journalist in Minneapolis, in June security forces wounded a Sputnik journalist covering the White House protests with rubber bullets, and in July in Portland, a film crew of Channel One was beaten. , and in October, the channel's correspondents suffered at the hands of bandits in Philadelphia.
At the same time, the State Department did not respond to a single note from the Russian embassy, which demanded an investigation.
“In 2020, the most resonant case was the double interrogation of an RT journalist by the American special services - upon arrival in New York and upon departure.
Our journalists in the United States are the objects of constant “approaches” of local special services with dubious proposals for cooperation, ”Zakharova stressed.
Trump's words about the unprecedented attack on free speech in the United States reflect the reality, Drobnitsky said.
“He is right, because there is an attack on freedom of speech in the country, and censorship is sweeping across America and spreading quickly enough.
There has been a blocking in social networks of accounts of objectionable people and advertising of a number of print media on sites such as Amazon.
Today in the United States it is not just a crisis of freedom of speech, but a transition to liberal totalitarianism, "Drobnitsky said in an interview with RT.
He did not rule out that in the near future pressure can be expected on the Trump-loyal TV channels Newsmax and Fox News.
At the same time, the expert believes that Trump will probably find a way to interact with his audience, and the story with blocking will be a good lesson for supporters of conservative ideas in the United States.
“This situation should be taken as a lesson, especially for those who believed that the digital platform exists on its own.
This situation demonstrated that transnational corporations set their own rules, including the introduction of censorship, which is not subject to anyone.
At the same time, there are no legal ways to influence their activities in the USA now, ”says Drobnitsky.