Russian court labels Meta platforms 'extremist,' effectively outlawing Facebook and Instagram
A court in
Moscow has ruled to label Meta Platforms an “extremist organization," a
move that effectively outlaws its Facebook and Instagram social media
platforms.
The Tver district court, ignoring a plea by Meta's lawyers to postpone the hearing to give them time to respond in the case, said on March 21 that its ruling takes effect “immediately.”
The designation,
according to prosecutors, will only outlaw Facebook and Instagram and not
Meta's WhatsApp messaging platform, since it is not a public platform.
State
prosecutors filed the request after news surfaced that Meta Platforms was
permitting Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence
against Russians and Russian soldiers after Moscow's unprovoked invasion of
Ukraine on February 24.
In court, they
said Meta "deliberately allowed hate speech against Russians, which
created an alternative reality in which any pro-Russian position was suppressed
and hatred was incited.”
There was no
immediate reaction to the ruling on Meta's corporate media page or on any of
its social media sites.
According to
Reuters, Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On March 10,
Meta said that as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, "we have
temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would
normally violate our rules like violent speech such as, 'Death to the Russian
invaders.'"
It added that
the company "still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian
civilians."
Russian
authorities had already blocked access to Facebook after it blocked some posts
by state-owned media outlets.
Prosecutors said
at the trial that Russians who still have accounts with the services will not
face legal liability. But some human rights lawyers have warned that such
promises may not be honoured.
Moscow has been
making moves to limit access to independent media, including social media, over
the past year.
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