March 4 – Russia blocked Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook (FB.O), the country’s communications regulator said on Friday in response to what it said were restrictions on access to Russian media on the platform.
The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said there had been 26 cases of discrimination against Russian Facebook media since October 2020, including restrictions in recent days on state-sponsored channels such as RT and the RIA news agency.
This move is a serious escalation in the ongoing confrontation between major technology companies and Russia, which in recent years has imposed numerous fines and blocked services due to delays. Tensions have risen amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation.”
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TASS reported on Friday that Russia has restricted access to Twitter (TWTR.N). Earlier, Interfax reported that the service was blocked.
Twitter Inc did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Meta’s global affairs chief Nick Clegg said the company would continue to do everything possible to restore its services.
“Soon millions of ordinary Russians will be cut off from reliable information, deprived of their daily ways of connecting with family and friends, and will be silenced to speak,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Meta told the blog that she is working to keep her services accessible “as much as possible”, but has stopped showing ads to consumers in Russia and has banned Russian advertisers from running ads around the world due to difficulties in working in Russia. this time.”
Technology companies such as Google’s Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) have also stopped advertising in Russia amid growing censorship requirements.
Last week, Moscow said it was partially restricting access to Facebook, a move the company said came after it refused a request from the government to suspend independent verification of the facts of several Russian state media outlets. On Saturday, Twitter also said its service was limited to some Russian users.
The Facebook logo is placed on the Russian flag in this illustrative photo taken on February 26, 2022. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration
Major technology companies are under pressure to respond to the February 24 invasion, which led to economic sanctions against Moscow by governments around the world. Russia’s state media has emerged as a key ignition point between Moscow and social media platforms during the conflict.
This week, Meta said it had restricted access to RT and Sputnik across the European Union and was lowering the content of Russian state-owned Facebook and Instagram accounts worldwide, as well as posts containing links to those Facebook posts.
In recent days, Russia has taken several steps to crack down on foreign media. He cut off access to the websites of several news organizations, including the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, to disseminate what he said was false information about his actions in Ukraine. Read more
The Ukrainian government has called on Meta and other platforms to withdraw their services from Russia during the conflict. Online speech experts and human rights activists have expressed concerns about the impact of blocking online services for Russian citizens trying to organize or obtain information.
Meta had about 7.5 million Facebook users in Russia last year and 122.2 million users in its other services, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, according to Insider Intelligence estimates. Russia’s leading social network VK has 63 million users, the researcher estimated.
Popular VPN applications have been downloaded more than 1.3 million times in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, according to AppFigures researcher, who described the figure as a big jump.
Meta was also one of several technology companies facing possible sanctions in Russia after failing to open local offices and take other measures required by a communications law passed this summer.
Global technology companies have withdrawn from Russia in response to requests from governments or a signal of support for Ukraine. The American Internet provider Cogent Communications (CCOI.O) said on Friday that it was terminating the Internet service for Russian customers. Read more
Earlier this week, business software giant Oracle Corp. (ORCL.N) said it was suspending all operations in Russia, while rival SAP SE (SAPG.DE) said it would pause all sales in the country. An official of the Government of Ukraine tweeted to both companies asking for support. Read more
Roskomnadzor said in a statement that Meta had restricted access to the accounts of state-sponsored news outlets in recent days, including RT, Sputnik, the RIA news agency, Defense Ministry’s Zvezda TV and the websites gazeta.ru and lenta.ru.
According to him, such restrictions violate key principles of freedom of information and unimpeded access of Russian Internet users to Russian media.
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Reuters reports, including additional reports from Paresh Dave in Auckland, California, and Sheila Dang in Dallas, Texas; Edited by Kirsten Donovan and Jonathan Oatis
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