“In light of Russia’s new ‘fake news’ law, we have no choice but to suspend live streaming and new content for our video service while we consider the security implications of this law,” TikTok tweeted, noting the exchange of messages in application will continue. “We will continue to evaluate changing circumstances in Russia to determine when we can fully resume our services, making safety our top priority.”
2/ In light of Russia’s new “fake news” law, we have no choice but to suspend live streaming and new content for our video service while we consider the security implications of this law. Our in-app messaging service will not be affected.
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) March 6, 2022
The law further silenced local Russian media outlets, which until recently provided the Russian public with information that was missing from official government reports on state media.
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Despite TikTok’s increasingly dominant role as a source of conflict content from both Russia and Ukraine, the video app, owned by China’s ByteDance, has been quieter than its Silicon Valley counterparts in revealing the company’s policy on disinformation. verification or censorship.
On Thursday, TikTok representatives exclusively told The Washington Post that the company is developing a policy for how it will treat state-controlled media on its platform. After questions about TikTok’s choice of words during the conflict, the company, which had previously described the invasion as a “situation,” sent a statement that included the words “war in Ukraine.”
TikTok has begun applying labels to content from some state-controlled media accounts. On TikTok, content from publications such as RT now includes a label at the bottom of the video that says “Russian state media” with a link to more information.
In late February, days after Russia invaded Ukraine, both Facebook and TikTok said they would ban Russian state media in Europe, setting the stage for Russian retaliation.
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In recent days, the Russian government has cordoned off social media sites, increasing pressure on the tech giants to restrict information about the war with Ukraine and continue to post state-backed media on their services. Russia’s internet censorship agency announced plans to block access to Facebook nationwide on Friday after restricting access to the social networking site. The Roskomnadzor agency said the country blocked Facebook to promote the free flow of information, blaming the company’s restrictions on Russian state media.
Roskomnadzor is stepping up pressure on other tech giants as well. Twitter also said the service was restricted to some users in Russia, and Roskomnadzor said it sent emails to Google and TikTok.
Putin’s new law could have a strong impact on the industry, forcing tech companies to shut down operations in the region without the Russian government having to actively block any particular social media service.
Meta, Twitter and YouTube did not respond to a request for comment on their approach to the law.
Cristiano Lima contributed to this report.