Russia's telecoms authority has banned social media platform Discord from use in Russia, and may be targeting popular PC games sales platform Steam next.
A discordant sound
On Oct. 8, Russia's telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor released a statement saying that Discord was being restricted "due to the violation of requirements of Russian legislation", accusing the platform of not preventing its use by "terrorists" and for "extremist purposes", according to The Moscow Times.
Discord is a popular messaging platform popular with gamers, as it provides a space for messaging, voice chat, and even stream live content.
Its features allow it to operate as a hybrid message board and chat room, and it has found great success in building not just gamer communities, but communities of all descriptions, including political ones.
This latest ban comes as the Russian watchdog had ordered it to remove over 1,000 items of content by Oct. 1.
The platform did not comply with the order and Roskomnadzor accused Discord of being "used by criminals".
Discord reportedly failed to pay a US$62,000 (S$81,000) fine imposed on it by a Russian court in 2023, which the watchdog accuses it of "ignoring".
Running out of Steam
But Discord appears not to be the only Western gaming platform in Russian authorities' sights.
Rumours on social media indicate that the next target may be the gaming platform Steam.
Steam is an online sales platform for digital PC games, but it also houses messaging boards for discussions related to the games it sells.
This appears to be where Steam has run afoul of Russian authorities, as app2top.com reports that Roskomnadzor has added three pages from Steam's "Community" section to its list of prohibited sites.
This was also reported by Eastern European media outlet Nexta.
⚡️ Roskomnadzor added Steam to the register of prohibited sites
If it is blocked, Russian users will lose access to profile pages, friends lists, discussions, workshop and trading platform. pic.twitter.com/Je6B4kfJh7
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 27, 2024
It is as yet unclear what those pages show, or why they were banned.
But Russia watchers seem to think this move is a precursor to a full ban of the platform.
After fully banning Discord, Russia is now setting its sights on the Steam gaming platform. This is reflected in actions by Roskomnadzor, which added 10 Steam links to its list of banned websites in the past week, including 7 on October 9.
The specific pages that were banned… pic.twitter.com/hvf1S0Bj8v
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) October 9, 2024
The warm embrace of fellow gamers
Similar bans of gaming platforms in other countries have usually rallied gamers to protest such bans, or if nothing else, to offer words of solidarity.
But rumours of the impending ban appear to have been met with enthusiasm.
Russia is often accused of being the source of many cheaters in popular multiplayer games such as CS2 and Helldivers.
Steam, for its part, is often a critical part of the infrastructure of such games, and without access to Steam, it is highly likely that Russian gamers, and any cheaters amongst them, will be unable to compete in multiplayer games.
Regardless of the truth of these accusations, that perception has led many commenters to welcome the ban, and speculate how much better their gameplay experience will be once the (as yet unconfirmed) ban goes into effect.
Screenshot via X
Screenshot via X
Ironically, while this news is being propagated via accounts sympathetic to Ukraine in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, this appears to have boosted Russian President Vladimir Putin's popularity somewhat.
Screenshot via X
Top image via Unsplash & Steam
