Russia extends Twitter slowdown, warns Facebook, YouTube

Russia said Monday it would continue slowing down Twitter’s operations over illegal content and threatened Facebook and YouTube with similar measures.

State telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor imposed slowdowns on Twitter’s services in mid-March, accusing it of failing to remove content related to child pornography, drug use and calls for minors to commit suicide.

The watchdog gave Twitter a month to remove the content or face a complete blockage in Russia. Last month it extended the deadline to mid-May.

In a statement Monday, it said it had decided against blocking the service after conducting an audit that showed Twitter had removed more than 90 percent of the “prohibited information”, but would continue slowing its operations.