SoundCloud blocked in Russia over materials about special military operation containing false info - regulator

MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - The Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor has restricted public access to SoundCloud in Russia in meeting the requirement of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office after the law enforcement agency has found that some materials published on the online platform contain false information about Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, the regulator told Interfax.

"As required by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, Roskomnadzor has restricted access to SoundCloud, the [online] service, following the publication of materials containing false information about the essence of the special military operation in Ukraine, the form in which the operation is conducted, methods of combat actions (attacks on civilian population, strikes on civilian infrastructure), about numerous deaths among the civilian population at the hands of Russian soldiers," Roskomnadzor said in response to an inquiry from Interfax.

"Such fake information is subject to immediate blocking under the law," it said.

"At the same time, Roskomnadzor has two times sent the owners of the online resource the requirements for the removal of prohibited information," it said.

"Due to the failure to remove illicit materials, access to the service is restricted in Russia. In the event that prohibited information is removed, the [online] resource will be unblocked," it said.

As reported earlier, the regulator's universal service checking the blocking of webpages and websites contains information that access to the website soundcloud.com is restricted as was requested by the Prosecutor General's Office on September 22. Since the website uses the network protocol https, the blocking of one of the pages may lead to the inaccessibility of the entire website in Russia.

SoundCloud is an online platform and a website for distributing digitalized audio information, including music and podcasts with social networking functions, and the namesake company domiciled in Berlin. The online service began operation in October 2008.