Instagram has blocked the account of a Donetsk and Luhansk independent online media outlet “Skhidny Variant” over the last two months. The editorial team believes it’s a Russian bot attack aimed at interfering with their reporting, as they reported on Facebook.
The account was blocked for “community guidelines violation”, but this time, the media outlet notes, they can not go and learn about the violation.
“Seeing as our website has been subjected to regular DDoS-attacks, we conclude this is the Russian bots’ next attempt to undermine our work covering Russia’s crimes in Ukraine,” the editors said.
In her comment to the IMI representative in Donetsk oblast, the “Skhidny Variant” editor-in-chief, Anastasia Rudenko, added that the website’s team was trying to restore the account.
“We are still waiting, because we only filed our appeal on Friday (December 8 – Ed.) thanks to our colleagues from the Center for Democracy and Law. But we decided to make a backup Instagram page, because this is the third block in two months,” Anastasia Rudenko commented.