Russia’s biggest social networking site Vkontakte was put on a state registry of blacklisted websites by mistake on Friday morning. The mistake was announced by a spokesman for Russia’s telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor said.
Watchdog group representative Vladimir Pikov revealed to Digit.ru:
“This was a mistake. Our employee put a tick in the wrong place. We will remove VKontakte from the registry and it should be accessible for everyone.”
Known as “Russia’s Facebook” the social network is home to more than 40 million users.
The website was accidentally blocked following a Russian law that went into effect this past July. The law allows authorities to block any website they deem to share “harmful content.”
The blacklist law focuses on sites that feature child pornography, drug-related material, extremism and details about how to commit suicide.
Citizens in Russian have slammed the blacklist protocol, noting that it removed their internet freedoms without court hearings or due process.
Roskomnadzor in the past has used his new power to block access to Google and YouTube. After public outcries he once against called those blocks “technical errors.”
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