Ukraine-Russia conflict: Kremlin restricts access to Twitter following mass protests

‘This message got through, but took a while,’ says BBC reporter

(AFP via Getty Images)

Access to Twitter appears to have been restricted in Russia in an apparent attempt to limit the flow of information to the country’s population.

Just days after multiple protests against the invasion of Ukraine erupted across Russian cities, the Kremlin is seemingly intensifying its efforts to crack down on social media platforms, where opposition to the conflict has been freely circulating.

According to a report from the internet monitoring group NetBlocks, Twitter has been restricted on multiple providers. The Kremlin has already blocked use of Facebook after the platform removed the accounts of four state-run media organisations.

Steve Rosenberg, the BBC’s Moscow correspondent, reported that the access to Twitter “is being severely restricted”. In one post, he said: “This message got through, but took a while.”

Russians are reportedly still able to access Twitter through VPN services, but direct connections are restricted.

It comes after protests in more than 50 Russian cities in response to the launch of Thursday’s invasion. OVD-Info, which tracks disorder at opposition rallies, said nearly 1,700 people were detained across the country. Thousands of people are thought to have taken to the streets to oppose the conflict.

As well as monitoring the cybersphere within its own borders, Russia has also launched extensive online attacks against Ukraine as part of its wider campaign to subjugate the country.

Cyber analysts have reported a sharp increase in online activity by groups affiliated with the Russian state since the beginning of 2022.

Across the internet, there's been a rapid uptick in suspicious accounts spreading anti-Ukrainian content, according to a report from Cyabra, an Israeli tech company that works to detect disinformation.

Cyabra's analysts have tracked thousands of Facebook and Twitter accounts that had recently posted about Ukraine. Researchers saw a sudden and dramatic increase in anti-Ukrainian content in the days immediately before the invasion.

On 14 February, for instance, the number of anti-Ukrainian posts created by the sample of Twitter accounts jumped by 11,000 per cent when compared with just days earlier.

Analysts believe a significant portion of the accounts are inauthentic and controlled by groups linked to the Russian government.

"When you see an 11,000 per cent increase, you know something is going on," said Cyabra CEO Dan Brahmy. "No one can know who is doing this behind the scenes. We can only guess."

However, Russia has not been impervious itself to this type of cyber warfare. The official website of the Kremlin, the office of Russian president Vladimir Putin, kremlin.ru , was down on Saturday afternoon, following reports of attacks on various other Russian government and state media websites.