A Russian court has banned the use of Facebook and Instagram after it described the activities of the parent company of the Meta apps as “extremist”. according to To the state RIA Novosti news agency.
The move came after the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office resume To a Moscow court to designate Meta as an “extremist organization” for allowing users in some countries to advocate violence against President Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers involved in the country’s invasion of Ukraine. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, is not part of the ban. Meta declined to comment on the record.
Individuals will not face criminal charges for using Facebook or Instagram. A spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General: “The use of Meta products by individuals and legal entities should not be considered as participation in extremist activities.” Tell State media outlet TASS. “Individuals will not be held responsible for simply using the Meta Services.”
Citing prosecutors, the Net Freedoms Project, a Russian human rights organization, said on its website telegram channel That paying for advertising on Instagram and Facebook can now be seen as funding an extremist organization. It said any person, company or website with links to Facebook and Instagram, and anyone with a business card showing app logos could face criminal charges. “This is a public demonstration of the symbols of an extremist organization,” the organization said.
The ruling will allow Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state media watchdog, to immediately ban Meta social networks and close relevant offices in Russia.
Russia prevented Accessed Facebook earlier this month. One week later, Roskomnadzor announced that it would do so too Instagram ban In reply to Meta Advertising That it would allow Facebook and Instagram users in Ukraine to post “forms of political expression” that normally violate the company’s rules against violent rhetoric, such as “Death to Russian invaders.”
RIA Novosti writes that what Russian prosecutors believe is spreading “extremist information” on Facebook and Instagram “threatens both individuals and society as a whole, and the company violated its own rules by allowing the publication of calls to kill the Russian military.”
In February, dead prevented Access to Russian state media RT and Sputnik in the European Union. Other US tech companies, including Google and appleThey responded in kind to the invasion by blocking access to Russian state media.