TikTok said to restore Russian media account, video on Ukraine crisis after government intervention

The ByteDance-owned app reversed a ban on state-owned RIA Novosti after an intervention from Russia’s communications regulator, Sputnik News reported

Russian media have been accused of spreading misinformation as a pretext for war, pulling TikTok into a new political controversy about its rising influence

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Published: 5:00pm, 21 Feb 2022Updated: 1:40pm, 9 Mar 2022

Chinese short video app TikTok has restored the account of a Russian state news agency after Moscow intervened when the account was blocked over the weekend, highlighting the social media platform’s increasing influence that has led to heightened scrutiny in multiple countries.

The social network, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, blocked the account for RIA Novosti and removed a video of a Ukrainian regional leader calling for evacuation on Saturday. The account remained down for most of the day, and it was restored following an intervention by a Russian regulator, according to Sputnik International, the news agency’s global news unit.

“Roskomnadzor has taken up the situation, a solution has been found,” Sputnik said, citing Russia’s communications regulator.

The deleted video was also restored. In that video, Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic region in eastern Ukraine, urged local residents to evacuate to Russia because of the increased tensions between the two countries.

Russia’s troop build-up along its border with Ukraine has led US President Joe Biden to warn that an invasion of the eastern European country, once part of the Soviet Union, could happen within days. Russia could use false claims about the conflict to justify an invasion, the US said.

Before the video was removed, it had been viewed by more than 1.2 million people, according to Sputnik.

The popularity of TikTok in Russia and Ukraine has made it a battleground in an information war involving conflicting accounts from Moscow, Kyiv and Washington about on-the-ground developments. In a departure from its previous policy during the 2014 crisis that saw Russia annex Crimea, the US has been publicly sharing regular updates from intelligence on Russian troop movements and plans.