Internet giants under threat

Facebook, Gmail and Twitter have been warned they must comply with controversial internet legislation signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior Russian official has said, raising fears that Western social networks could be blocked from the country.

The three internet giants have until January to register with Russia's communications watchdog and establish servers inside Russia or face "administrative sanctions", Maxim Ksenov, the deputy head of the Roskomnadzor agency said in an interview with Izvestia.

The "bloggers laws" refer to a package of legislation that critics have described as an effort to crack down on online dissent. The laws force any blogger with more than 3000 daily readers to register with the media watchdog, while the internet giants must register as "organisers of information distribution".