April 10th, local time, the Russian Federation’s Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media Supervision Bureau issued an announcement on its official website, asking Facebook to lift restrictions on broadcasting programs commemorating the 60th anniversary of Gagarin’s space flight. Previously, the American social media company Facebook blocked relevant commemorative programs of the Russian media.
The Russian side announced that “the Russian Federation’s Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media Supervision Bureau has written to Facebook’s leadership demanding that all restrictions be lifted and explain the reasons for blocking live programs commemorating the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s space flight.”
The Russian Federation’s Supervision Bureau of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media also said on its website that such behavior “violates the main principle of free dissemination of information, which is a censorship and restricts [people] understanding of Russia’s achievements in the field of space and information about the scientific and technological development of mankind’s first flight into space”.
On April 9, Russia Today invited Russian astronauts Andrei Borisenko, Sergei Ryansky and Anna Kikina to broadcast live to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first astronaut Gagarin. The live broadcast was held on the Facebook account of “Russia Today”, but was later blocked by the platform under the pretext of “copyright infringement”.
