Russia partially halted a punitive slowdown of Twitter on Monday after it deleted a large portion of content deemed illegal by Moscow, but warned other U.S. internet platforms to comply with local legislation or face similar penalties.
State communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has since March impeded the speed of Twitter for not removing banned content quickly enough, and threatened to block it entirely, part of a wider drive by Moscow to tighten its control over the internet.
On Monday, however, the watchdog said it no longer planned to block the service and the slowdown would only remain on mobile devices.
"We remain deeply committed to offering a safe service to account holders around the world — including those in Russia," the spokesperson said, adding that Twitter would continue to talk with Roskomnadzor.
Roskomnadzor said it had identified other internet platforms, including Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube, as having posted illegal material. "If these platforms fail to take appropriate action, they may face similar sanctions," Roskomnadzor said in a statement.
Roskomnadzor said Twitter had removed 91% of banned content since March, Reuters reported.
