Russian court bans Facebook and Instagram for 'extremism'

The biggest fear the Putin regime has is the truth, and they have taken all steps to stop the flow of truthful information trickling back into Russia.

For over a decade, Russia weaponized social media platforms to run their division and disinformation operations to weaken countries from within and subvert democracies around the globe. So it is no wonder that after Russia launched its brutal assault against Ukraine, they immediately began blocking social media platforms and criminalizing discussion of truthful information about their war crimes in Ukraine. The biggest fear the Putin regime has is the truth, and they have taken all steps to stop the flow of truthful information trickling back into Russia.

Today the Tverskoy Court of Moscow went a step further. It banned social networks Facebook and Instagram in Russia for ‘extremism’ and emphasized that the decision must be implemented immediately. The lawsuit to recognize the company Meta, which owns the services, as extremist, was filed by the Prosecutor General's Office. The supervisory authority explained that they intend to protect Russians from further ‘violations of their rights,’ and Instagram ignored more than 4.5 thousand requests to remove fakes about the ‘special operation’ of Russian troops in Ukraine along with calls for ‘unauthorized rallies,’ according to an RIA Novosti correspondent present at the hearing.

According to prosecutors, “extremist information threatens both individuals and society as a whole, and the company violated its own rules by allowing the publication of calls for the killing of the Russian military.”

The court decision issued today does not apply to WhatsApp messenger, which is also owned by Meta. In addition, there is no penalty for using the company's services.

A Meta representative said at the meeting, Russian users rely on Facebook and Instagram as platforms for communication and added that the blocking of Meta will result in the loss of access to a vast amount of "consistent information."

Through the court, the Prosecutor General's Office demanded that Meta be recognized as an extremist organization, and the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on public calls for extremism and on promoting terrorism.

Russia’s censor agency, Roskomnadzor, restricted the access of users in Russia to Instagram. Earlier, the department also blocked Facebook due to massive discrimination against Russian media and information resources, including RIA Novosti, Sputnik, and RT.