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Moscow (dpa) - Russia has slowed the speed of the short message service Twitter.

The media supervisory authority Roskomnadzor justified this in Moscow on Wednesday by saying that prohibited content had not been consistently removed.

Despite numerous requests, Twitter has not deleted more than 3,100 pieces of content since 2017, including child pornographic material or appeals for suicide against minors.

To «protect Russian citizens», access to all mobile devices and half of the stationary devices has now been slowed down with immediate effect.

Photo and video content is affected, but not text messages, said the vice chief of the supervisory authority, Wadim Subbotin, later on state television.

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At the same time, the authority threatened Twitter with further restrictions, including a complete blockade, should the US company continue to violate the law.

A little later, for an initially unexplained cause, the Roskomnadzor website and the Kremlin, Duma and government websites were no longer accessible for about 45 minutes.

A law has been in force in Russia for a few weeks which obliges operators of social networks to search for prohibited information and to delete it.

In addition to child pornography and inducement to commit suicide, this also includes calls for unauthorized protests.

The Russian authorities have recently taken action against social networks because calls for demonstrations for the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny had been spread there.

Fines were imposed on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

Human rights activists criticize attempts to restrict the right to freedom of expression on social networks.

Hundreds of Internet sites have already been blocked in Russia, including those of government opponents.

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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210310-99-761585 / 2

Communication from Roskomnadzor