The logo of the social media application Tiktok is displayed on a tablet screen.
As Russian dissident activity continues to rise and the Russian government tightens regulation of online media, online media platforms are under intense pressure. But TikTok has won praise from Russian officials for being more willing than some other online companies to remove “illegal” content on demand.
TikTok has been accused of being a Trojan horse for the Chinese Communist Party, and Russia is slowly discovering the benefits of TikTok. According to Bloomberg, an official familiar with Russian social media policy said the Kremlin approached Chinese Communist authorities earlier this year about anti-government content on Jitterbug. The official asked not to be identified because the information is not publicly available. The official said content critical of the government has been greatly reduced as a result of Jitterbug’s use of bans to remove posts unpopular with the Russian government.
Political science student Mikhail Petrov of the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg (Russia), whose ShakeOut posts have quickly become popular this year, has exploded in popularity with more than 250,000 followers, and ShakeOut has even invited Petrov to join a talent development program.
Petrov, 22, said his video was muted for violating standards after he featured a Jitterbug video in which President Joe Biden agreed with a reporter that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “killer. His other videos were simply disappeared, and he was expelled from the talent development program for “expressing his opinion,” according to a chat he had with a Jitterbug employee.
Russian officials say the Kremlin believes Shake’s targeted ban is effective because popular Shake users understand that they will lose revenue if they post anti-Putin material.
Svetlana Sokova, who has more than 58,000 followers on Jitterbug, said she posted a video of a protest in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Jan. 23, after which her page was deleted. She has since created a new account, but many posts have been banned or restricted by the service.
Earlier this year, Jitterbug, along with Google, Telegram and Twitter, were fined by Russia for promoting content from unauthorized Navalny demonstrations.
According to a statement by Vasily Piskarev, chairman of the fact-finding committee on foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs in Russia’s lower house of parliament, following the penalty, Shake’s management agreed to cooperate and was willing to carry out the monitoring and removal of the “illegal content” requested.
Twitter’s access to Russia was slowed until mid-May due to its failure to remove what the Russian Internet watchdog called “illegal content,” while Google faces an antitrust investigation.
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