{"id":77580,"date":"2014-12-27T10:13:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-27T10:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=77580"},"modified":"2014-12-27T10:13:43","modified_gmt":"2014-12-27T10:13:43","slug":"facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia’s request"},"content":{"rendered":"
Russia\u2019s Internet watchdog is hard at work trying to quash social media mentions of a mass rally next month supporting opposition activist Alexei Navalny.<\/p>\n

A Facebook event page promoting a rally backing Navalny next month was set up after prosecutors on Friday asked for a 10-year jail sentence for the opposition leader on embezzlement charges that critics say are politically motivated. Since February, Navalny has been living under house arrest.<\/p>\n

\n

Navalny, a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and an anti-corruption blogger who ran a failed mayoral campaign in Moscow last year, was a key figure in Russia\u2019s anti-government protests in 2011-2012.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Vadim Ampelonsky, a spokesperson for Russia\u2019s Internet watchdog, Roskomnadzor, confirmed to Interfax news agency on Saturday that the general prosecutor had requested that access be blocked \u201cto Internet pages on Facebook which contain calls to unauthorized mass events,\u201d including the page for next month’s event for Navalny.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, the demand\u201d to block the page \u201cis being fulfilled\u201d by Facebook, he added<\/p>\n

\n
\"Navalny<\/span><\/div>
Alexei Navalny (R) speaks with Leonid Volkov, the former head of his mayoral campaign and organizer of the planned Jan. 15 rally in support of the opposition leader.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The move to suppress support for Navalny comes amid a growing crackdown by Russian authorities on opposition activists as the Kremlin frets over the possibility of a people\u2019s revolution in the vein of Ukraine\u2019s Euromaidan protest, which ousted the country\u2019s Moscow-leaning president in February.<\/p>\n

As of Sunday afternoon, before the event page was blocked for users in Russia, some 12,000 people had said that they would attend the rally at Moscow\u2019s Manezhnaya Square planned for Jan. 15, the day that the courts are to rule in Navalny\u2019s case. The page is still visible to users outside Russia.<\/p>\n

A separate Facebook event page, created after the first one was blocked has since garnered over 26,000 promised attendees and is still accessible in Russia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n

\"Navalny's<\/span><\/div>

Alexei Navalny autographs a copy of Esquire magazine adorned with his face for a supporter during a rally in Moscow.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A report by Russia\u2019s TV Rain cited sources saying Facebook has decided not to block any further protest content or pages after blocking Russian users from accessing the first event page, which triggered a wave of criticism from activists. The same report said that Twitter, too, has also decided it will not comply with Roskomnadzor removal requests.<\/p>\n

Facebook could not be reached by Mashable<\/em> to confirm the report. Twitter officials declined to comment.<\/p>\n

The companies\u2019 decision not to block event pages and accounts of those Russia deems to be in violation of its laws puts them at risk of being fully blocked in Russia, TV Rain wrote.<\/p>\n

Russia has taken extreme steps to tighten control of the Internet this year. In February, laws came into effect that grant the country\u2019s general prosecutor power to order websites or social media accounts to be blocked without a court order.<\/p>\n

A look at Russia\u2019s Internet blacklist shows it is quickly filling up with links related to the Navalny rally, as Russian Internet service providers are ordered to block content mentioning the event.<\/p>\n

In May, a senior Roskomnadzor official threatened to block Twitter throughout Russia and complained that Facebook and Google ignored demands to block content deemed illegal by Moscow.<\/p>\n

Facebook restricted access to 29 pieces of content in Russia in the first six months of this year at the government\u2019s request. A mere four pieces of content were restricted in all of 2013.<\/p>\n

Russia made 32 removal requests to Twitter between January and June of this year. Eight accounts and 11 tweets were withheld as a result of the requests.<\/p>\n

While Twitter has complied with some of Russian authorities\u2019 requests, communications officer Nu Wexler told Mashable<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never disclosed user data to the Russian government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never disclosed user data to the Russian government.\u201d<\/span>An ex-employee of Vkontatkte, Russia’s version of Facebook, said Roskomnadzor also sent 53 requests to it to block pages on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“They mainly try to block all pages, groups and events that mention the word Navalny,” Nikolay Durov, whose brother founded and ran the site before he was ousted this year, wrote on Vkontakte.<\/p>\n

Despite the crackdown, as pointed out by Russian activist Roman Dobrokhotov, it is easy to circumvent the restrictions on Twitter simply by changing your location from Moscow to almost anywhere else in the world. “I’m here [on Twitter] from Uganda,” quipped Dobrokhotov.
\nSource: Mashable.com<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia\u2019s Internet watchdog is hard at work trying to quash social media mentions of a mass rally next month supporting opposition activist Alexei Navalny. A Facebook event page promoting a rally backing Navalny next month was set up after prosecutors on Friday asked for a 10-year jail sentence for the opposition leader on embezzlement charges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":77581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[18],"yoast_head":"\nFacebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia's request - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia's request - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russia\u2019s Internet watchdog is hard at work trying to quash social media mentions of a mass rally next month supporting opposition activist Alexei Navalny. A Facebook event page promoting a rally backing Navalny next month was set up after prosecutors on Friday asked for a 10-year jail sentence for the opposition leader on embezzlement charges […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-27T10:13:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/man2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"950\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/\",\"name\":\"Facebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia's request - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-27T10:13:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-27T10:13:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Facebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia’s request\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\",\"name\":\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"description\":\"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\",\"name\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Facebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia's request - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Facebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia's request - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","og_description":"Russia\u2019s Internet watchdog is hard at work trying to quash social media mentions of a mass rally next month supporting opposition activist Alexei Navalny. A Facebook event page promoting a rally backing Navalny next month was set up after prosecutors on Friday asked for a 10-year jail sentence for the opposition leader on embezzlement charges […]","og_url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/","og_site_name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3","article_published_time":"2014-12-27T10:13:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":950,"height":534,"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/man2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@citi973","twitter_site":"@citi973","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/","name":"Facebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia's request - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-27T10:13:43+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-27T10:13:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/facebook-blocks-page-promoting-opposition-leader-rally-russias-request\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Facebook blocks page promoting opposition leader rally at Russia’s request"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/","name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","description":"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1","name":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kojo Akoto Boateng"},"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77580"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}