Russia has officially classified the American company Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as a “terrorist and extremist” organization. Thus, the Russian state can file lawsuits against the users of these social networks.
Meta was included in the list of “terrorist and extremist” organizations of the Russian Financial Monitoring Service on Tuesday (11) on the Russian government portal.
In March, a Russian court declared Meta “extremist” and its two main social networks, Instagram and Facebook, were blocked in Russia.
2 of 3 The four most downloaded apps over the past decade all belong to Mark Zuckerberg’s businesses: Facebook (1st), Facebook Messenger (2nd), WhatsApp (3rd) and Instagram (4th) — Photo: Portal
The four most downloaded apps over the past decade all belong to Mark Zuckerberg’s company: Facebook (#1), Facebook Messenger (#2), WhatsApp (#3), and Instagram (#4) — Photo: Portal
On March 10, Meta announced that platforms could allow posts containing messages like “death to the Russian invaders” but not credible threats against civilians, although it was later clarified that this would only apply to users posting from Ukraine .
Since March, internet users in Russia have not been able to access Instagram or Facebook, which is why many in this country are using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access social networks.
3 out of 3 Mobile, Smartphone, Internet, Cybercrime (descriptive image) — Photo: Gilles Lambert / Unsplash
Cell phone, smartphone, internet, cybercrime (descriptive image) — Photo: Gilles Lambert / Unsplash
Instagram is very popular in Russia and used to be an important platform for advertising and sales. Billions of people use meta apps around the world.
The Russian panel’s decision puts the American company on a par with farright nationalist groups, foreign terrorist organizations and Russian opposition groups.