Meta Wants to Overturn Russian Court’s Decision
Facebook’s parent company Meta has appealed to a Moscow court against a ban on some of its activities in Russia due to “extremism”.
In March, the Russian Federation found the social media giant guilty of “extremist activity”, but said the ruling would not affect its WhatsApp messaging service, on already-banned Facebook and Instagram social networks.
The Russian Federation opened a criminal case against Meta on March 11. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case after the social media platform changed its hate speech rules. It is worth noting that the Investigative Committee reports directly to Russia’s longtime leader Vladimir Putin.
The war in Ukraine remains one of the most discussed topics in the war. Unfortunately, Russia continues to bomb Ukrainian cities and the situation in the Donbas region is catastrophic. It could take many years to reconstruct the infrastructure damaged by Russian forces.
Meta and Russia
Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court on March 21 upheld a lawsuit filed by Russian state prosecutors. According to Russian prosecutors, Meta tolerated “Russophobia”.
Russia took action after Facebook restricted Russia’s state media’s ability to earn money on the social media platform. The tech giant also limited access to the RT and Sputnik news outlets across the European Union.
Russia blocked Instagram after Meta outlined a moderation policy allowing social media users in Ukraine to post messages urging violence against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Russian troops.
However, the social media giant since narrowed its guidance to prohibit calls for the death of a head of state. It said its guidance should never be intercepted as condoning violence against Russians in general.
Nevertheless, the perceived threat to Russian citizens angered the authorities and led to the launch of a criminal case against the company.
The country previously attributed the label “extremist” to groups including Jehovah’s Witnesses. Another “extremist” group is Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation according to Russian authorities.
