On the 3rd day of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia blocked access to Twitter in its country as reported by NetBlocks.
Starting Saturday (26/2) morning, NetBlocks noticed failed or throttled connections to Twitter servers from almost all telecommunications operators in Russia, including Rostelecom, MTS, Beeline, and MegaFon.
BBC journalists in Russia said his access to Twitter was severely restricted. Messages can still be sent but it takes a long time. Please note, access to Twitter through a VPN service can still be done in this blocking.
The motivation of the Russian government to block Twitter is unclear, but previously the Russian government had started to ban social media platforms, such as Facebook. The platform created by Mark Zuckerberg was blocked after deleting four Russian state media accounts.
According to the Russian government, Facebook's actions violate the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens.
Twitter itself admits that its service is blocked in Russia. They claim to be trying to make their services safe and accessible.
"We believe people should have free and open access to the internet, which is especially important in times of crisis," Twitter wrote on its @Policy account.
The Russian government, through its various media, "softened" the news of their invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, various social media platforms describe a more severe condition. Like a video showing a Russian missile attack on a residential apartment in Kyiv, and so on.
Internet access in Ukraine is said to still work in some areas and there is no Twitter blocking in that country. But some analysts expect Russia could confiscate telecommunications infrastructure and shut down Ukraine's communications links with the outside world.
But so far internet disruptions have only occurred around the city of Kharkiv. Previously reported, Elon Musk confirmed that Starlink's satellite internet network is now available in Ukraine, whose internet network was heavily disrupted after the Russian invasion.
Musk also confirmed that he would send more terminals (devices to access Starlink) to Ukraine. This tweet is Musk's reply to a tweet by Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov that "pocked" Musk on Twitter.
"@elonmusk, when you try to colonize Mars, Russia tries to occupy Ukraine! When your rocket successfully lands from space - Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civilians," Fedorov tweeted.