Reports claim that Meta Platforms Inc. of the United States has been added to Rosfinmonitoring’s list of “terrorists and extremists” in Russia. After Meta was convicted guilty of “extremist activity” in Russia in March, a Moscow court rejected its appeal in June. At the time, Meta’s attorney testified in court that Meta was not involved in extremist activities and was opposed to Russophobia.
#BREAKING Russia adds Meta to list of ‘terrorist and extremist’ organisations pic.twitter.com/sWCF0x6sFL
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 11, 2022
Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O) was convicted guilty of “extremist activity” by a Moscow court in March this year. The Russian state prosecutors’ petition to prohibit Meta’s operations on Russian soil was upheld by Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court. The agency’s case, according to Meta’s attorneys, was unjustified and illegitimate. The business denied engaging in extreme behaviour. According to company executives, Meta opposes both demands for violence and racial prejudice.
The social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger are all owned by Meta. Facebook and Instagram, two of Meta’s most prominent platforms, are already prohibited in Russia, and the court later stated that the decision would not apply to WhatsApp.
Instagram was blocked after Meta claimed that it would permit social media users in Ukraine to post messages calling for violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the troops Moscow sent into Ukraine on February 24.
In March an internal email accessed by Reuters also said that the Meta would allow posts that call for the death of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko only if they did not contain other targets or discuss methods or locations.
The temporary policy changes on calls for violence against Russian soldiers were to apply in countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine, reports Reuters.
Tensions between Moscow and foreign internet platforms have increased as a result of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Previously, Anton Gorelkin, a member of the State Duma’s information and communications committee in Russia, stated that Moscow may reopen the Russian market to Meta, but only on its terms. The basic prerequisite, according to Gorelkin, is that Meta complies with a Russian regulation requiring international firms with more than 500,000 daily users to create Russian representative offices. Gorelkin had fiercely criticised foreign businesses while promoting domestic alternatives.
