These would come into force on March 14, the Russian media regulator announced on Friday evening. The public prosecutor’s office had previously initiated preliminary proceedings against Meta and demanded that the US company be classified as an “extremist organization”.
The Russian government had also threatened to shut it down. The background is allegations that users in some countries on the meta-platforms are calling for violence against Russia and Russian soldiers.
Reuters had reported, citing internal emails, that Facebook and Instagram would temporarily allow appropriate calls for violence in some countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. These included, for example, calls for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A meta spokesman confirmed that the rules were relaxed two weeks after the start of the Ukraine war. Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, political expressions of opinion are currently permitted that would otherwise violate regulations on the restriction of hate speech. However, calls for violence against Russian civilians are still not allowed.
Meta international relations manager Nick Clegg said on Friday evening that the permission for previously banned statements was only effective in Ukraine. Company policy aims to protect the right to free speech as part of post-invasion self-defense. He emphasized that Meta has no disputes with the Russian people and there is no change in the regulations on hate messages as far as the Russian people are concerned.
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said if the Reuters report is correct, according to which users in some countries are allowed to use Facebook and Instagram to incite violence against Russia and Russian soldiers, all activities by this company would be stopped. The Russian embassy in the US has already called on the government there to end Meta’s “extremist activities”.
Last week, the government in Moscow banned Facebook in Russia, citing the difficulties encountered by Russian state media in using the platform. However, the platforms Instagram and the news service WhatsApp, which also belong to Meta, could be used until the very end.
Source: Nachrichten
