VKontakte blocked the pages of two Bashkir public environmental movements

On the evening of October 31, VKontakte blocked the pages of the Bashkir public environmental movements Green Shield - Kushtau and Sterlitamak, breathe! This is reported by the publication "Idel.Realii".

One of the administrators of both communities, activist Dmitry Petrov, told Idel.Realii that before the blocking, he and other administrators were deprived of the status of leaders. On his page on the social network, he posted a screenshot of messages with the text "You have been excluded from the leadership of the community."

“Obviously, both communities have been hacked. We associate this event with our fight against violations of environmental legislation in connection with plans to build new chemical plants in the southern agglomeration of the republic, as well as with the possible resuscitation of the plans of the Russian Copper Company to develop deposits on the Kryktytau Ridge,” Petrov said.

The activists filed complaints with VKontakte technical support, but no response has yet been received.

In the community "Sterlitamak, breathe!" there were about 3.8 thousand subscribers, and in the Green Shield - Kushtau group - more than 3.2 thousand. Both pages highlighted plans to build a new aromatics facility near the local town of Salavat. in communities Shortly before the lockdown, administrators published a petition demanding a ban on the construction of new chemical plants in the Sterlitamak agglomeration.

19:32 VKontakte blocked communities because outsiders gained access to the administrator's account, the press service of the social network reported to OVD-Info. “Our support team is already in touch with representatives of the communities to return access to them,” the press service added.