Russia Blocks Facebook Owned Platforms In Response To Company’s Restrictions

In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, several corporations have come out to suspend their operations or services in the Russian territory. This time, however, Russia beat one such mega-corporation and banned its access to their nation.

Russia’s media regulator recently announced that they revoked access to the Facebook network in their nation. Russia claimed that Facebook’s parent company Meta’s restrictions on Kremlin-affiliated social media accounts had violated a Russian law banning censorship.

Roskomnadzor, the Russian “federal service for supervision of communications, information technology and mass communications,” released a statement on to Variety that read the following.

“On March 4, 2022, a decision was made to block access to the Facebook network (owned by Meta Platforms, Inc.) in the Russian Federation.” The reps said Facebook’s restrictions are prohibited by a federal law that mandates “unhindered access [for] Russian users to Russian media on foreign internet platforms.” Meta’s actions infringe “the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation,”

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Amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Meta previously announced that it was globally demoting content from Russian state-controlled media outlets on their social media platforms. Meta-owned platforms include Instagram and Facebook.

Russian funded outlets and publications on the platform are namely, Russian military’s Zvezda TV channel, Sputnik, and RT. Meta did not outright ban them but made it harder for other users to find the pages and content posted by these outlets.

The Russian government passed a Law on Friday that makes it illegal to publish “false information” regarding Russia’s military. The violators can face up to 15 years in prison