Elon Musk says he has resisted calls for from a number of governments to dam Russian information websites from his Starlink web satellite tv for pc service.
REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Picture
Elon Musk claims that he has resisted calls for from a number of nations to dam Russian information websites from his Starlink web satellites amid the continuing invasion of Ukraine.
“Starlink has been informed by some governments (not Ukraine) to dam Russian information sources,” the world’s richest man tweeted over the weekend.
“We won't achieve this until at gunpoint.”
Musk added: “Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.”
For the reason that Russians launched their invasion of Ukraine some 10 days in the past, a number of media retailers affiliated with the Kremlin have been deplatformed by main tech firms in the USA.
Reddit final week banned customers from posting hyperlinks to RT and Sputnik, becoming a member of different tech giants who additionally imposed related restrictions corresponding to Microsoft, Twitter, YouTube, Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, and Spotify.
Even Telegram, the encrypted messenger service, bowed to European strain to take away RT, the place it had a big following. It's believed that Russian disinformation was allowed to unfold freely on Telegram.
Russian authorities have retaliated towards American tech firms by instituting their very own bans.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a legislation banning Fb and Twitter for failing to toe the Kremlin’s line on the Ukraine battle.
The Russian authorities has additionally moved to dam locals’ entry to overseas media retailers reporting from the nation, together with US government-funded Voice of America, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Latvian website Meduza.
Russian censorship authorities have additionally compelled the few remaining unbiased home retailers to close down their operations.
Starlink is the system of satellites geared toward offering wi-fi web entry by way of house. Musk’s agency, SpaceX, despatched a cargo of Starlink terminals to present Ukraine with web entry as a consequence of considerations the nation would lose dependable entry throughout invasion.
However as Russia steps up its bombardment of main cities, Musk and others have cautioned that the satellite tv for pc alerts might flip Ukrainians into targets.
“Essential warning: Starlink is the one non-Russian communications system nonetheless working in some components of Ukraine, so likelihood of being focused is excessive,” Musk tweeted.
“Please use with warning.”
Musk urged Ukrainians to take sure precautions when utilizing Starlink.
“Activate Starlink solely when wanted and place antenna away as far-off from folks as doable,” Musk added. “Place gentle camouflage over antenna to keep away from visible detection.”
Musk’s supply of Starlink terminals got here on the request of Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who has stated the broadband web service “retains our cities linked and emergency companies saving lives” within the occasion of outages.
The Starlink terminals had been activated final Saturday upon their arrival in Ukraine.
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