Russia bans SoundCloud over “false information” regarding Ukraine war

Access to SoundCloud has been restricted in Russia, with the country claiming “false information” about a “special military operation” in Ukraine have been circulating on the music streaming site.

According to Interfax, who cite information from communications watchdog Roskomnadzor (RKN) (via Reuters), “Roskomnadzor restricted access to the SoundCloud service in connection with placement of materials containing false information regarding the nature of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine.”

The report continued, claiming that SoundCloud has been blocked at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, with the alleged messages circulating on the website including information on “attacks on civilians, strikes on civilian infrastructure, about numerous civilian casualties at the hands of Russian soldiers”.

It said access to the service was blocked at the behest of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, adding that the information in question related to the special operation’s form and methods of warfare including “attacks on civilians, strikes on civilian infrastructure, about numerous civilian casualties at the hands of Russian soldiers”.

Elsewhere, as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues, a rapper from Russia is believed to have taken his own life after he refused to be drawn into fighting in President Vladimir Putin’s war.

Walkie, whose real name was Ivan Vitalievich Petunin, told fans in a Telegram video that he couldn’t “take the sin of murder on my soul” and that his final protest would be expressed by his death. According to the Daily Mail, Petunin’s body was found in the Russian city of Krasnodar on Friday (September 30).

The 27-year-old rapper was one of 300,000 extra Russian citizens whom Putin had drafted for his continued war against Ukraine. Walkie previously served in the Russian army and, as the Mail reports, hated his previous experience so much that he tried to avoid re-enlistment on medical grounds, highlighting that he had been treated in a psychiatric hospital.

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