Russia temporarily blocked access to the video-sharing website Vimeo on Monday after it failed to remove a propaganda video from the Islamic State that violated the country\u2019s \u201cextremism\u201d laws.<\/p>\n
Roskomnadzor, Russia\u2019s state broadcasting regulator, ordered Internet service providers in Russia to ban access to Vimeo after receiving a request from Russian prosecutors due to the site hosting the video, which is called “Flames of War.”<\/p>\n
The dramatic, highly-produced 55-minute film, narrated by a man with an American-sounding accent, juxtaposes images of fiery explosions with clips of speeches from presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. It was first released in September and immediately banned in Russia.<\/p>\n
After amendments to a law were made last year, Russia prosecutors have the power to ban material published online that they deem \u201cextremist\u201d without a court order.<\/p>\n
Since February, Russian officials have invoked the amendments to block 512 websites.<\/p>\n
While much of the blocked sites include material from radical groups, some are news reports in Ukrainian media about the Euromaidan revolution and conflict in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Russia isn\u2019t the only country cracking down on ISIS videos, though. Kazakhstan recently banned an ISIS propaganda film, “Race Towards Good,” which shows Kazakh children training for battle. One scene depicts a Kazakh boy at an Islamic school showing off his ability to quickly assemble an automatic rifle as his classmates look on.<\/p>\n
Russian authorities gave no indication as to how long the ban on Vimeo would last.<\/span><\/p>\n Due to the sluggish speed of some operators to implement the ban, meaning some users were able to access the site throughout the day, such as those using Netbynet. By Monday evening, it appeared the ban had been lifted.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Vimeo seemed to move to take down other ISIS-related videos, including a trailer for \u201cFlames of War.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Russia temporarily blocked access to the video-sharing website Vimeo on Monday after it failed to remove a propaganda video from the Islamic State that violated the country\u2019s \u201cextremism\u201d laws. Roskomnadzor, Russia\u2019s state broadcasting regulator, ordered Internet service providers in Russia to ban access to Vimeo after receiving a request from Russian prosecutors due to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":70532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[18],"yoast_head":"\n