- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Facebook Shuts Down Private Page of Head of Sputnik Latvia

© Sputnik / Sputnik / Go to the mediabankHead of Sputnik Latvia Valentins Rozencovs
Head of Sputnik Latvia Valentins Rozencovs - Sputnik International
Subscribe
RIGA (Sputnik) - Facebook has deleted a private account of Sputnik Latvia editor-in-chief Valentins Rozencovs after it broadcast a pro-Riga mayor rally.

"Facebook has recently opened a 150-member Riga office and is still hiring. It monitors what people in the Baltics post on the social network website. A staffer or someone who aspires to be one must have informed them about the broadcast from my account, causing it to be shut", he said.

The airing of last Saturday’s massive rally in support of embattled Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs was watched and reposted by thousands of people. The leader of the popular leftist Harmony party survived a no-confidence vote this Monday, called by right-wing opposition over graft claims.

READ MORE: Ottawa Bars Sputnik From Lima Group Meeting on Venezuela

Facebook logo - Sputnik International
Sputnik Considers Removal of Agency-Linked FB Accounts 'Politically Motivated'
Rozencovs’ account on Facebook was first purged in January when the California-based social networking giant removed over 500 pages and accounts linked to Russia, citing perceived attempts to manipulate people in the Baltics and elsewhere.

Sputnik global editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said the fact that Rozencovs’ private page was targeted again after broadcasting a rally in support of Usakovs was no coincidence. The mayor of the Latvian capital is routinely described in Western media as being pro-Kremlin.

Last July, Valentins Rozencovs said that he had been detained in Riga by the security police upon his arrival from Moscow and released almost 12 hours later. He noted that security services questioned him about his work as Sputnik Latvia's senior editor and the outlet's work in the country.

READ MORE: Simonyan Urges Facebook to Explain Crusade Against Sputnik on Social Media

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала