The owner and chairman of aerospace firm SpaceX, tycoon Elon Musk, said on Saturday that his company’s Starlink satellite broadband service will not block Russian media “unless it’s at gunpoint.”
“Some governments (not Ukraine) have told Starlink to block Russian news sources. We won’t do it unless we do it at gunpoint,” the tech entrepreneur said on his Twitter account.
“I regret being an absolutist of freedom of expression,” he said.
Russia’s state-controlled media has come under fire as the West and its allies seek to crack down on false or misleading reporting about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
This week, the European Union banned the Russian state-funded RT television network and Sputnik agency from broadcasting in the 27-nation bloc, while US-based social media giants including Twitter and Meta , parent company of Facebook, have taken measures to block the activity of these media linked to the Russian government.
Starlink went live in Ukraine last week after Kiev’s digital minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, urged Musk to provide stations to the country days after it was invaded by neighboring Russia and sought to isolate Ukraine.
The service operates a constellation of more than 2,000 satellites that aim to provide Internet access around the globe.
The web monitoring group NetBlocks has reported a series of significant internet service outages in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint.
Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022
“Some Starlink terminals near conflict areas were stuck for several hours at a time,” Musk said in another tweet on Saturday.
Since its army invaded on February 24, Russia has attacked several Ukrainian cities, with authorities reporting hundreds of civilians have been killed. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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