Since early March, Twitter and Facebook have been inaccessible in Russia.
The Russian Government on Friday said it was opening a criminal case against Meta for “calling for the murder” of Russians, saying the parent company of Facebook and Instagram had relaxed rules on violent messages aimed at Russia’s army and leaders.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it was launching an investigation “due to illegal calls for the murder of Russian nationals by employees of the American company Meta”.
Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office also requested that the Internet giant be branded “extremist” and called for Instagram to be blocked in the country.
The latest clampdown also saw access restricted to Instagram and comes after Roskomnadzor, which oversees Russian mass media, blocked Facebook and Twitter amid Moscow’s war propaganda campaign.
The announcement came over two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, with Russia seeking to ban any criticism of the military campaign.
The General Prosecutor’s Office said “materials were being distributed on Instagram that contained calls for committing violent acts against the citizens of Russia, including military personnel”.
It said it had asked Russia’s media watchdog Roskomnadzor to “restrict access” to Instagram.
READ ALSO: Russia to limit Instagram, label Meta an extremist group
Facebook and Instagram are widely used in Russia, the latter being the most popular social media platform for young Russians.
Since early March, Twitter and Facebook have been inaccessible in Russia.
According to a report, the Russian government moved to categorize the social media giant Meta Platform as an ‘extremist organization’ after an internal email showed that it would temporarily allow its users to call for violence and murder against Russian nationals.
Earlier this month, Russia blocked access to Facebook after imposing partial restrictions on the social media giant for refusing Russia’s request to stop fact-checking their state-run media.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that Meta would allow users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion.
Now, Russia opened a criminal case against Meta for permitting violence, including death threats in their platform against Russian nationals. Russia’s prosecutor general office also called to label them as an ‘extremist organization.’
