Russia has opened a criminal case against Facebook parent Meta, calling it an extremist organization for allowing speech on its platform about the conflict in Ukraine. Russian officials also threatened to block Instagram in their country.
"A criminal case has been initiated ... in connection with illegal calls for murder and violence against citizens of the Russian Federation by employees of the American company Meta which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram," the Russian Investigative Committee said. 2022).
This committee reports directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is not known what impact this criminal case will have on Meta in Russia.
The case began when Meta announced it would allow violent speeches against Russian soldiers on Facebook and Instagram related to the conflict in Ukraine. But they still do not allow calls for violence against Russian civilians.
Meta said the temporary changes were made to allow forms of political expression that normally violate their rules. These looser rules apply in several countries including Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Not only that, Meta has also temporarily allowed death calls to be addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, as long as they do not contain other targets or have two credibility indicators, such as location or method.
"We hope that it is not true because if it is true then it means that there must be the most decisive action to end the activities of this company," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Meanwhile, separately the head of the Information Policy Committee Alexander Khinstein called for Instagram to be blocked in Russia. Unlike its brother Facebook, which has been blocked since last week, Instagram is currently still escaping the snare of blocking.
"If Meta confirms this fact or refuses to comment, there will be reasons for Roscomnadzor and other colleagues to take the strongest action possible. My opinion is that Instagram in Russia in this case should be blocked, like what happened with Facebook," Khinshtein said.