TikTok takes action against Russia

Social networking service halts livestreaming and posting of new content as it evaluates situation in Russia.

Israel National News
07.03.22 00:02
TikTokiStock


Social networking service TikTok on Sunday became the latest company to take action against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, announcing it is immediately halting livestreaming and the posting of new content as the company evaluates the escalating situation in Russia.

“TikTok is an outlet for creativity and entertainment that can provide a source of relief and human connection during a time of war when people are facing immense tragedy and isolation. However, our highest priority is the safety of our employees and our users, and in light of Russia's new ‘fake news’ law, we have no choice but to suspend livestreaming and new content to our video service in Russia while we review the safety implications of this law,” the company said in a statement.

“Our in-app messaging service will not be affected. 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,” it added.

Several companies have taken steps against Russia since it launched its invasion of Ukraine. Last week Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced that it would be restricting access to Russian state-controlled media in Europe, including RT and Sputnik.

Meta added that content from Russia state-controlled media would be demoted on Facebook and Instagram, and that links from those outlets would be labeled in order to give “context” to people who do access them.

Music streaming giant Spotify announced last Wednesday it is closing its Russia-based office and removing Russian state-sponsored content from its service.

Twitter began taking steps against Russian content on Tuesday, announcing that it would be labeling all websites affiliated with the Russian government and reducing the circulation of their content. According to Yoel Roth, head of site integrity at Twitter, over 45,000 tweets a day share links to Russian state-affiliated media outlets. These will now be stamped with “Stay Informed” labels.

Over at Google, its Google Maps service is no longer showing live traffic data in Ukraine out of concern that it could be used by Russia to identify troop movements. Google Pay has stopped working in Russia, and YouTube has announced that it will begin blocking channels that have links to Russia state-backed media outlets across Europe, due to their “spread of disinformation.” Google’s Alphabet has begun blocking mobile apps connected to RT and Sputnik media from its Play store.

Apple is no longer selling its products in Russia and has removed RT’s and Sputnik’s apps from its App Store outside Russia. Following in Google’s footsteps it has disabled traffic incidents on its Apple Maps in Ukraine.

Ukraine conflict: Anonymous (and the internet) vs. Russia [Continuously updated]

• By Alan Buckingham
• Published 4 days ago

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A few days ago, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Likely most of you have seen at least some of the endless coverage that currently blankets the airwaves. But TV is only giving you part of the story; you can learn a lot more by nosing around online. For the past several days I have kept a running update of what hacktivist collective Anonymous has been up to. The group has been busy and they have made the Russian government even busier, hacking their various state-run 'news' services, such as RT (Russia Today). You can look back at the original post and the multiple updates that were added to it on a daily basis. 

Now it’s time to start again and unlike the original story, this time we are letting you know there will be updates that you’ll want to check back in on. We will post them as they happen, which could be once or more in a day. We will begin with what is happening today, March 2. 

SEE ALSO: In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Anonymous is working quicker than government red-tape [Updated]

Earlier this morning, we learned that someone at Google is being especially unhelpful to the Ukrainian cause, in fact actively working against those trying to get the truth out to the people in Russia who are living in the middle of an overwhelming disinformation campaign orchestrated under Putin’s orders. 

That announcement came not long after MSN had pointed out that Google Maps and reviews were being used to help get information to people. 

Anonymous also posted several images of a leaked document that show that Putin had this planned out a long time ago, and had already given the order a month before the invasion began. That was the time when he was claiming he had no plans to do anything and entered into talks with various world leaders under false pretenses. 

Update 1:

While everyone is worried about the people of Ukraine during this time, those who have friends and family located in the nation with the unfortunate Russian border, are suffering more than most. 

A Twitter feed called Duty2Warn, which focuses on current news, has made an announcement regarding communications service Frontier that has allegedly sent out an announcement to its customers promising free calls to Ukraine, now through March 11. We have sent an inquiry to Frontier to verify this, although there is really no reason to doubt it.

 

Update 2:

As of today, March 3, Anonymous has announced (although it hasn't taken responsibility for the act), that the Russian Space Agency has been hacked. 

 

Problems continue to mount for the Russian leader and, to a certain extent, his main ally, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Update 3:

This evening, March 3, Anonymous is announcing the Crimean government website has been successfully taken offline. Crimea, for those who don’t know, is a district in Ukraine, which Vladimir Putin seized back in 2014 in his ongoing attempt take to put the old USSR back together.

Update 4: 

This morning March 4, Anonymous is announcing that the personal data of Russian soldiers who are or have fought in Ukraine have been released to the internet. Many may consider this a questionable move, as the soldiers are following the orders of Vladimir Putin at penalty, not only of death, but the death of their families. 

Update 5: 

Today, March 5, the fight in Ukraine continues unabated. In the tech news from this invasion the fight also continues.  

Anonymous has set up a new way for people to help and it has posted instructions. 

 

 

Meanwhile, The Times of London is reporting the Ukraine president Zelensky has survived three assassination attempts during this week. 

And a Russian private jet is being tracked and appears headed for the United States. 

You can also track the private jets of all of the Russian oligarchs on Twitter at: https://mobile.twitter.com/ruoligarchjets 

Update 6:

Late Saturday after (EST US), March 5, Anonymous has announced it has taken down the website FSB. Ru. This is the Russian Security Services. 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a guide to help Ukrainian and Russian users to stay safe with the Telegram app. You can find that here. 

Update 7: 

Sunday morning, March 6, began with news a lot of people have been waiting for. For the past several days the cries have been forthcoming for Visa and Mastercard to pull out of the Russian market, and today many people got their wish as each company issued a statement late Saturday that all transactions taking place in Vladimir Putin’s nation would no longer be accepted. You can read the lengthy statements, if you wish from Visa and Mastercard. 

One wonders now if this will finally push holdouts McDonalds and Burger King to follow suit. Transactions for the two just became much more difficult, given that the current value of the Ruble is less than one penny per US dollar. Other holdouts such as Pepsi and Coca Cola may stick it out longer. 

After being caught and widely shamed for buying a load of Russian oil at a big discount, Shell had to release the following statement via its Twitter account. 

Anonymous, meanwhile, released a statement regarding its attacks, reassuring everyone that it was doing everything it could to minimize effects on regular citizens. 

In a follow-up to yesterday’s post, regarding the Russian jet that seemed to be bound for the US, it landed at Dulles, outside of Washington DC. It was here to pick up the recently expelled Russian diplomats and return them to Russia. 

Update 8: 

A lot can change in a day, and this one has been no exception. As of the late afternoon, Sunday March 6, several services have made big announcements and we’ve learned about more of Vladimir Putin’s plan for his own country. 

It began with TikTok blocking Russian users. That sounds bad on the surface, as people have been uploading videos and news about what is going on there, but the service gave a compelling reason in its official statement. 

Just hours later, it was reported that Netflix will cease business in Russia, stranding approximately one million subscribers there. 

In a Facebook post, we learned that the Chief of General Staff in Belarus has resigned "Due to the mass refusal to take part in hostilities...Belarusian army does not have the ability to staff any battalion group." 

Meanwhile, Reuters has reported that Italy has seized villas and yachts from Russian oligarchs totaling a whopping $156 million dollars. 

Finally, it has been learned of Putin’s plans to take Russia off the internet, isolating the people to only what state-run media approves for them. Anonymous announced that it plans to take action on this as well, shortly after Nexta TV, Eastern European news and media service, released documents confirming the plan