Last week brought the news that the Russian state was preparing for a ban on Discord, the latest move in a wider purge of Western technology firms from the region. This crusade began following the various sanctions imposed on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with the Putin regime seeking “digital sovereignty” through domestic tech companies that have no Western links.
Discord is based in the communist hotbed of San Francisco, California, and is estimated to have between 30-40 million users worldwide, with around 4% of the platform’s traffic estimated to originate from Russia. The Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor has been building the bureaucratic case against the platform, issuing five rulings relating to Discord since September 20, with Russian users also reporting various outages over this period.
Now it’s official: Roskomnadzor announced on Tuesday that Discord is now banned in Russia for apparently violating the country’s laws (via The Moscow Times). The media watchdog claimed it is being “restricted due to the violation of requirements of Russian legislation” and had failed in “preventing the use of messaging for terrorist and extremist purposes.”
Roskomnadzor also claimed Discord had ignored a previous decision issued by a Moscow court for “illegal content”, and had failed to comply with an order made on October 1 for the removal of around 1,000 items from the platform. Just for good measure, the authorities add that Discord is “actively used by criminals.”
Ironically enough given the latter point, Discord is less popular in Russia than Telegram, which is currently facing its own troubles in Europe over various nefarious elements using it.
In a spot of glorious solidarity against purple Western decadence, Turkey has also quickly hopped on board the Discord ban train. A court in Ankara ordered that access to the platform be blocked, due to suspicions of “child sexual abuse and obscenity” on the platform. Say what you will about authoritarian regimes, but they’ve got co-ordination.
“Now Discord is also banned in Turkey,” says Meric Eryuyek of Istanbul’s Upgrade Entertainment. “Communications between our Finland—Turkey studios are now dead unless we use VPN in Turkey office, which is considered illegal.
“I’m assuming this mindless, clueless, arbitrary ban affected around 800 Turkish studios & their creative work. For some studios, nothing can do what Discord does. What a dumb, ignorant, destructive move.”
There is a wider trend here, with Russia and Turkey joining the likes of China in their extreme suspicion of Western software companies, and willingness to use the tools of the state to restrict their availability. In Russia’s case the Discord ban follows hot on the heels of a VPN ban, and amidst some even more Quixotic plans like the creation of a national game engine and a Russian equivalent to Valve.
For Russian users and developers, it’s Do svidanyia to Discord. I’ve contacted Discord for comment, and will update with any response.