A recent pause of TikTok’s services in Russia is more to please the West rather than driven by safety concerns for its users, China experts have flagged. Chinese-owned TikTok said on March 6 that it would suspend live-streaming and the uploading of videos to its platform in Russia, fearing that the Kremlin will criminalize it for spreading information about its invasion of Ukraine. “We have no choice but to suspend livestreaming and new content to our video service while we review the safety implications of this law,” TikTok said in a series of Twitter posts on Sunday. It added that its in-app messaging functions would not be affected by the decision. “The safety of our employees and our users remain our highest priority,” the post reads. “We will continue to evaluate the evolving circumstances in Russia to determine when we might fully resume our services with safety as our top …