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Russia's Twitter Slowdown Gets the Meme Treatment

The Russian internet was flooded with memes once again after Russia's communications watchdog announced it will slow down Twitter within the country in an effort to force it to comply with requests to delete “illegal” content.

Yet despite Roskomnadzor’s announcement, Twitter continued to work as normal on Wednesday — while many government websites briefly went dark.

Here’s a look at the potentially precedent-setting news through the lens of memes:
Twitter

"Twitter after being slowed down."

Several memes attempted to capture the essence of internet karma, but this one came pretty close. 

The first picture lists the government websites that went offline shortly after Roskomnadzor's announcement. The second one shows a soldier yelling at his partner that he's shooting in the wrong direction.

If slow Twitter is as lovable as the sloth from Zootopia, maybe this won't be so bad.

"Roskomnadzor slows down Twitter, but the block boomerangs back to them: Photo in color. #TwitterInRussia"

In a jab at the slow internet connectivity seen in Russia's small towns and remote regions, this tweet reads: "Roskomnadzor slows down Twitter speed in Russia so Russians who fall short of modern speeds can feel at home here."

"Video-fact: Roskomnadzor slowing down Twitter." 

"— What is this social network?

— This is Russian Twitter, 7 hours here equal 1 hour in real life." 

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