From the perspective of a hypothetical corrupt, authoritarian government, it's an issue of control. Of course they have their own websites. But the goal would

From the perspective of a hypothetical corrupt, authoritarian government, it's an issue of control. Of course they have their own websites. But the goal would be to promote the "official" point of view while suppressing the opposition, to maintain the illusion of broad support. It's not a free speech issue. And if the "official" point of view gets deplatformed, it's a risk to them. I'm hesitant to use VKontakte as a real-life example because I don't speak Russian, but according to Wikipedia VK had censorship issues until it was (supposedly) taken over by Putin-friendly people.