Russia Today Editor-in-Chief accuses Twitter of collaboration with U.S. special services
By forbidding the television channel Russia Today from advertising, Twitter has, in fact, signed up to cooperate with the U.S. special services, stated RT (Russia Today) Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.
“I admit, I did not believe that Twitter was run by U.S. intelligence agencies. I thought it was a conspiracy theory. But Twitter has just admitted it. It's a shame,” she said.
Along with this, Simonyan admitted that the Russian authorities would “respond politely” to the American media in Russia.
“It is especially unfortunate that the American media in Russia are now likely to feel the full gentleness of the Russian response,” she added.
At the same time, Leonid Levin, head of the Russian State Duma Committee for Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, said that Twitter’s decision to ban any advertising on the RT and Sputnik accounts is not only a restriction of freedom of speech, but also interference by U.S. authorities in the work of private businesses.
“The selective restriction of users of a social network on a political basis (especially when it comes to journalist organizations) is an obvious restriction on freedom of speech,” Levin told reporters.
According to him, “Russia has always had a normal working dialogue with Twitter…Such a sudden and unfair act in relation to Russian media testifies to the interference of U.S. authorities in the work of private business.”
“The actions of American Internet companies are a vivid example of bringing the U.S. domestic political agenda into the economy and international relations,” Levin said.
On October 26, the microblogging service Twitter banned the accounts of Russia Today and Sputnik from posting any advertising messages.