There is some unfortunate news regarding the massively popular messaging platform, Discord regarding a new decision from Russia. Amid the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been pulling out all of the stops in restricting and banning Western services. It has set its sights on now banning Discord, and was hinted that it could happen in a matter of days.
According to a news report from the Russian news outlet Kommersant and an anonymous source, Russian State Media Regulator, Roskomnadzor has issued five separate rulings related to Discord, which can be used for justification of the ban. The Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform failed to prevent Discord users from accessing information banned by the country. It has been hinted that the ban could begin in a matter of days. They have already been fined by a Moscow Court about 3.5 million roubles ($37,675) for failing to restrict access to what has been deemed banned information.
A Short List of Western Services And Companies That Suspended Service to Russia:
- Sony
- Crunchyroll
- Pokémon Go
- Instagram and Facebook (Moscow designated Meta as an Extremist Group in March 2022)
- Netflix
- Nintendo
- Microsoft
- CD Projekt
- Electronic Arts
- Disney
- Deere & Co.
- Coca Cola, Pepsi
- Little Caesars
- Metropolitan Opera
- Nestle
- McDonald’s
According to PC Gamer, it has been estimated to have between 30-40 million users in the country and account for around 4% of the app’s traffic. Russian users have complained that they have begun to notice periodic outages on Discord over September, with many resorting to VPNs, and both the web and mobile versions of the platform affected. Speaking of people who have been affected, it’s Russia’s game players and developers who are the ones affected the most by this predicament, due to no domestic replacement. Vasily Ovchinnikov, head of Russia’s Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry had this to say about the predicament:
The problem is that for Russian developers, communication with the community, including the international one, and technical support are implemented through Discord.
Vasily Ovchinnikov, Head of Russia’s Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry
It’s plain to see that this potential ban of Discord is another tech fight that Russian authorities have picked dates back to their Country’s war and invasion of Ukraine in March 2022. Putin’s Regime looking for ways to get past the sanctions that have been in place and has begun using “Digital Sovereignty” through tech companies and platforms that the West wouldn’t be able to touch or shut down.
Source: PC Gamer, Kommersant, Game Rant
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