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Moscow also declares war on Facebook and Instagram, accused of instigating violence and hatred against Russia. So it is preparing to ban the two platforms by placing them in the black list of “extremist organizations”. The lunge after the announcement of Meta, the company that manages Mark Zuckerberg’s social empire, which has decided to ease some forms of censorship on anti-Russian posts: even those that heavily target Russian troops and Vladimir directly Putin, including messages calling for the killing of the Tsar or the President of Belarus Alexandr Lukashenko. Meta’s move for greater tolerance towards those who incite hatred against the Russian invasion comes after the decision of the Roskomnadzor, the Moscow organ that controls communications, to block access to Facebook in the country. A consequence, in turn, of the censorship of the Russian state media by Mark Zuckerberg’s social network. Twitter also followed a similar policy, blocking RT and Sputnik accounts in Europe.
Access to Instagram in Russia will be permanently blocked at midnight on March 14. This was announced by TASS citing the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor. “Since active Instagram users will need time to copy their photos and videos to other social networks, to notify their contacts and subscribers, Roskomnadzor decided to complete the Instagram blocking procedure at 00 on March 14. , allowing 48 hours of a transition period, ”Roskomnadzor wrote on his Telegram channel.
Meanwhile, Meta removes censorship on posts. “In light of the invasion of Ukraine – he did know A half with a statement – we decided to allow people affected by the war to express their feelings towards the armed forces, expressions such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’ which would normally violate our rules. “It is therefore explained that the messages in which it is requested the deaths of the Russian and Belarusian leaders will be permitted, unless they include other objectives or indicate the place or method for their killing.
The first to react was the Russian embassy in the United States, which asked Washington to put a stop to the decision of the Silicon Valley giant. “We ask the authorities to stop Meta’s extremist activities with measures that put those responsible before their legal responsibilities”, reads a post published on Twitter that continues: “Meta’s aggressive and criminal policy, which leads to incitement, hatred and hostility towards the Russians is outrageous. The company’s actions are yet another proof of the war without rules declared by the world of information against our country “.
A few hours after the news, reported by Tass, that the Russian Attorney General’s office requested that Meta and all the realities it represents (therefore also the messaging platforms WhatsApp and Messenger) are recognized as an “extremist organization”. “What Meta is doing is called ‘incitement to racial hatred’which in Russian legislation qualifies as extremism, “said the deputy head of the Russian committee on technologies and communications, Anton Gorelkin.
The fall of the censorship decided by Meta interests, at least for the moment, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. It does not protect those who share messages against prisoners of war or, in general, hostile to Russia, outside the war context. According to The Intercept website, Facebook and Instagram also allow the sharing of articles and messages pro Azov, the Ukrainian neo-Nazi paramilitary group, as long as the posts are limited to supporting the resistance and not the far-right ideology of the militants.
