The Russian government has moved to block access to Instagram in the country.
Labeling the app’s parent company, Meta (which also owns Facebook). An ‘extremist organization’, the move will have huge ramifications for ordinary Russians.
‘In accordance with the Federal Law ‘On Countering Extremist Activity, the. The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation sent an application to the court to recognize. Meta Platforms Inc. is an extremist organization that bans its activities in the territory of the. Russian Federation,’ the Prosecutor General’s Office of the. Russia bans Instagram Federation said today.
The move comes right after Meta decided to relax its hate speech policy to allow. Instagram users to call for violence against. Russian soldiers and issue death threats for Putin.
But it will likely be a hugely unpopular decision. Russia like many people uses the social media app for both pleasure and business.
‘It’s huge because this is really a much-loved platform in. Russia bans Instagram and also the source of income for lots of small businesses across the country’ tweeted the. FT’s Polina Ivanova.
‘And for young Moscow elites, it’s. everything’.
Just this week, Instagram started ‘downranking’ posts. Russia bans Instagram state-controlled media in people’s. Feeds, and place them lower in the Stories tray.
Russia has already blocked. Facebook from the country, but reports suggest it is letting. WhatsApp (also owned by Meta) continues to operate.
WhatsApp ‘will not be affected by measures against Meta, since it is a means of communication not posting information’, a source told state-owned agency RIA Novosti.
TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app, said on Sunday that it would suspend live-streaming and the uploading of videos to its platform in Russia.
Russia has been facing a lot of sanctions internationally. Since Russia has warned of using Nuclear weapons. No country has come forward to help war-torn Ukraine.
