Russia saw Facebook and Instagram for “extremist activities”. Gulp!
A Moscow court has recognized the activities of Instagram and Facebook, a social network owned by Meta, as extremist and banned them from operating in Russia
Facebook and Instagram outside Russia.
Today the Tverskoy court in Moscow banned the social networks Facebook and Instagram, controlled by the US platform Meta, in Russia for "extremist activities". The news agency Ria Novosti reports. The decision will be enforced immediately, as stated by the Court.
"The decision does not apply to Meta's WhatsApp messenger activities, due to its lack of functionality for public dissemination of information," the court said. However, it is not enough. Telegram has indeed overtaken WhatsApp to become Russia's most popular messaging tool, mobile operator Megafon said Monday, Reuters reports.
The war in Ukraine has exacerbated the clash between foreign digital platforms (Facebook in the lead) and Russia.
Russia had previously banned Facebook for restricting access to Russian media while Instagram was blocked after Meta said it would allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages calling for violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the troops that Moscow sent to Ukraine on February 24. Later, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg withdrew that policy , making it clear that it will not allow content that requires the assassination of heads of state. But this was not enough to appease the Russian authorities.
All the details.
WHAT THE COURT OF MOSCOW DECREED
A court in Moscow has judged the activities of Instagram and Facebook, a social network owned by Meta, as extremist and banned them from operating in the country, writes Tass , taken up by Ansa . According to Judge Olga Solopova, the court approved the motion presented by the Attorney General's office.
THE POSITION OF GOAL
The lawyer of the US firm, Victoria Shagina, had declared in court Monday that Meta was not carrying out extremist activities and had opposed the Russophobia, the Interfax news agency reported.
ACCUSATIONS FROM RUSSIA ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
The Russian Prosecutor General motivated the case with a desire to protect Russian citizens from further violations of their rights. In particular, Instagram allegedly ignored more than 4,500 requests to remove "fake news" about Russia's "special operation" in Ukraine. According to Russian prosecutors, "extremist information" threatens both individuals and society as a whole, for example, by not banning the publication of requests for the killing of Russian military.
What Meta is doing is called 'incitement to racial hatred' which in Russian legislation qualifies as extremism, ” said the deputy head of the Russian committee on technologies and communications, Anton Gorelkin.
According to Reuters , the implications of labeling Meta as an "extremist organization", a designation once reserved for groups such as the Taliban and the Islamic State, but then given to Jehovah's Witnesses and the anti-corruption foundation of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who was held in jail. remain unclear.
THE CAUSE FOLLOWING THE GOAL DECISION
On March 11, reports from Reuters and Bloomberg revealed that Meta had consented to the temporary removal of limits on hate messages against Russian military in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
The reaction of the Russian authorities was immediate with the initiation of a criminal case against the Menlo Park company.
THE CONSEQUENCES PER GOAL (FACEBOOK) IN RUSSIA
Returning to today's decision of the Russian court, this prohibits Meta from doing business in Russia. It will also result in the galaxy's immediate ban on apps within the country's borders.
WHATSAPP?
However, the provision does not concern WhatsApp. The prosecutor stressed that the decision does not apply to the WhatsApp messaging service, which is also owned by the Meta platform.
DOWN AMONG THE RUSSIANS WHO PREFER TELEGRAM
Still, Zuckerberg's company's messaging service is suffering from a decline in popularity among Russians.
Also today Reuters reported that Megafon, one of the top four Russian telecom operators, said its analysis of mobile Internet traffic showed that Telegram's share jumped to 63% in the first two weeks of March from 48% in the first. two weeks in February. More and more Russians flock to rival WhatsApp service as Moscow restricts some digital services. WhatsApp's share has dropped to 32% from 48%, Megafon said.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/russia-sega-facebook-e-instagram-per-attivita-estremiste-gulp/ on Mon, 21 Mar 2022 15:26:48 +0000.