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The video still shows Alexei Navalny waiting for a trial in a police station after his return to Russia
Photo: - / dpa
The Russian authorities are warning social networks, and especially the TikTok video platform, which is popular with young people, to stop advertising for the imprisoned opposition politician Alexej Navalny.
"We ask you to take extensive measures immediately to prevent the dissemination of such illegal information on the TikTok platform," says a message from the telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor.
Specifically, the authority is referring to calls distributed via TikTok to take part in a demonstration for the Kremlin critic Navalny announced for Saturday but not approved.
Navalny returned to Moscow on Sunday and was arrested immediately after arriving at the airport.
On Monday, a court sentenced the 44-year-old to 30 days of arrest for alleged violations of probation conditions.
After a poison attack on him in August of last year, Navalny stayed in Germany for months for treatment.
The opposition politician had been shown to have been poisoned with a chemical agent developed by the Novitschok group during the Soviet era.
He blames Russian President Vladimir Putin personally for this.
The Kremlin rejects participation.
Life and health in danger?
Nawalny's supporters have called for nationwide protests on Saturday.
In addition to TikTok, the supervisory authority also turned directly to Russia's largest social network VKontakte, a kind of Russian Facebook.
Roskomnadzor warns that young people in particular could be encouraged to participate in illegal activities that could endanger their life and health.
In Russia, it is forbidden by law to encourage minors to participate in unauthorized street protests.
Navalny had already criticized in 2018 that the law was there to hinder his activities.
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pbe / Reuters
