21 March 2022, 23:59
Court bans operation of Facebook and Instagram in Russia
The Tverskoi Court of Moscow recognized the activities of social media Facebook and Instagram as extremist and banned their operation in Russia. The WhatsApp messenger, also owned by the Meta company, was not affected by the ban.
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on March 11, the “Roskomnadzor” (Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Communications) announced the restriction in Russia of access to Instagram, which belongs to the Meta company. The restrictions were explained by the dissemination on the social media of calls for violence against Russian citizens, including the militaries. Earlier, the “Roskomnadzor” announced the blocking of Facebook in Russia in connection with cases of “discrimination against Russian media and information resources.”
The General Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit over Meta’s refusal to remove incitement to violence.
According to the prosecutor, the use of those social media by citizens should not be considered as participation in extremist activities.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 21, 2022 at 05:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
