Governments know they can’t get user data out of Twitter without a warrant, but they CAN do something that’s almost as bad: censor people with Twitter’s blessing.

Granted, Twitter has (fast and loose) rules around this as well, but you have to wonder WHAT is going on when the Kremlin, a place that isn’t known for embracing freedom of expression, is praising Twitter for blocking tweets.

If they’re happy with the response they’re getting, you shouldn’t be.

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On the heels of the announcement that Twitter archives would now be available in Russian comes an announcement from Moscow that Twitter has cooperated with Czar Vladimir Putin to block access to blacklisted content in his country.

According to The Moscow Times, Twitter has “actively been engaged in cooperation” since early March with Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision in Telecommunications, Information Technology and Mass Communications.

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Twitter has inked a deal with Russian search engine Yandex to provide real-time search results to the leading search engine in Russia. The deal will give Yandex access to all public tweets directly from the firehose.
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