Russia bans Facebook, Instagram, citing extremism
Through a court decision, Russian authorities have banned all Facebook and Instagram activity within the country, stating that their parent company Meta violates the country's law against extremism, according to an article from NPR.
The platforms were already blocked by the Russian government prior to the court ruling. The ban does not include WhatsApp, a Meta messaging platform.
The move comes after Meta relaxed hate speech restrictions on Russian military and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the article. Russian authorities said the company's platforms were being used to incite violence against Russian citizens.
"The fact is, if we applied our standard content policies without any adjustments we would now be removing content from ordinary Ukrainians expressing their resistance and fury at the invading military forces, which would rightly be viewed as unacceptable," said Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta.
Though, Meta later clarified that the easing restrictions only applied to Facebook and Instagram users in Ukraine, according to the article.
Regardless, Russian authorities are seeking to designate Meta as an "extremist organization" along with other groups such as al-Qaida, Jehovah's Witnesses and the followers of Russian opposition leader and Putin critic Alexei Navalny.
