Russia bans Discord

The messaging and VOIP platform has run afoul of anti-terrorism laws

The Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor has issued a ban on Discord, the messaging platform popular with gamers and cryptocurrency groups, for posting “illegal information” and ignoring a court order.

Discord allows for instant messages, voice and video calls, and group chats. The US-based platform has become popular in some corporate circles, as well as among online video game players.

“Access to the Discord messenger is restricted due to the violation of the requirements of Russian legislation,” Roskomnadzor said on Tuesday, saying the move was “in connection with the posting of illegal information.”

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The watchdog has demanded the removal of 947 posts containing illegal content, including calls for suicide, extremism, sexual abuse of children and “LGBT propaganda.” Last week, a Moscow court fined Discord 3.5 million rubles ($37,500) for failure to comply with court orders. Discord has already ignored a six million ruble fine from last year.

The orders to remove illegal content are meant to “prevent the use of the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes, the recruitment of citizens to commit terrorist and extremist acts, and the sale of drugs,” Roskomnadzor told RT.

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Discord has also been a popular platform for communication between blockchain developers, as well as cryptocurrency users and traders. While a large portion of the platform’s Russian users switched to Telegram after Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict, Discord has remained popular among gamers around the world.

Last month, the newspaper Kommersant hinted that Discord could either be banned or “throttled” over its failure to comply with Russian laws.