Facebook under fire for closing Russian dissident’s page under Kremlin pressure
Facebook has come under criticism after it chose to censor the page of a leading Russian dissident under pressure from the Kremlin.
Alexei Navalny alleges that his profile page, which called on Russians to rally against his persecution, was shut down by the social media platform after coming under pressure from the Russian government.
Navalny is one of the most prominent critics of president Vladimir Putin in Russia but is facing a jail term of up to 10 years over what are believed to be fabricated fraud charges.
The lawyer came second in Moscow’s mayoral election in 2013 after securing 27 per cent of the vote and has masterminded several anti-government protest rallies.
Navalny wrote: “Rather unpleasant and unexpected behaviour from Russian Facebook. I thought they would at least demand a court order rather than rush to block pages at the first request of crooks.”