Russia’s independent media, long under siege, teeters under new Putin crackdown

“In light of Russia’s new ‘fake news’ law, we have no choice but to suspend live-streaming and new content to our video service while we review the safety implications of this law,” TikTok wrote on Twitter, noting that its in-app messaging would continue. “We will continue to evaluate the evolving circumstances in Russia to determine when we might fully resume our services with safety as our top priority.”

The law has further silenced homegrown Russian media voices that until recently were providing the Russian public with information absent from the government’s official account on state-owned media.

Despite TikTok’sincreasingly dominant role as a source of content on the conflict from both Russia and Ukraine, the video app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has been quieter than its Silicon Valley counterparts in disclosing the company’s policies on disinformation, fact-checking or censorship.

On Thursday, TikTok representatives exclusivelytold The Washington Post that the company was developing a policy on how it will handle state-controlled media on its platform. Following questions about TikTok’s choice of words during the conflict, the company, which previously described the invasion as “the situation,” sent a statement that included the words “war in Ukraine.”

TikTok has begunapplying labels to content from some state-controlled media accounts. On TikTok, content from outlets such as RT now includes a label at the bottom of the video that says “Russia state-controlled media,” with a link to more information.

TikTok has long tried to stay out of politics. Russia’s invasion is making that harder.

In late February, days after Russia invaded Ukraine, both Facebook and TikTok said they wouldban Russian state media in Europe, which set the stage for retaliation from Russia.

The Russian government has cordoned off social media sites in recent days, increasing pressure on tech giants to restrict information about the war with Ukraine and continue publishing state-backed media on their services. Russia’s Internet censorship agency announced plans toblock access to Facebook around the country on Friday, after throttling access to the social media site. The agency, Roskomnadzor, said the country had blocked Facebook to promote the free flow of information, blaming the company’s restrictions on Russian state media.

Facebook and TikTok ban Russian state media in Europe

Roskomnadzor has been increasing pressure on other tech giants as well. Twitter also reported the service was restricted for some users in Russia, and Roskomnadzor announced that it had sent letters to Google and TikTok.

Putin’s new law could have a spiraling impact on the industry, putting pressure on tech companies to stop operating in the region, without the Russian government having to actively block any particular social media service.

Meta, Twitter and YouTube did not respond to request for comment on their approach to the law.

Cristiano Lima contributed to this report.