Russia are working to declare Meta as an “extremist organisation” which would see all of the tech giant’s apps removed from its servers.
After banning Facebook last week, Russia wants to cut off access to Instagram and WhatsApp too by legally identifying the apps’ parent company, Meta, as an “extremist organisation”.
Sure, we were all terrified by Mark Zuckerberg’s sunscreen-lathered look when he took his $12,000 hydrofoil surfboard out for a spin. But even that doesn’t make Meta an extremist group.
On Friday, Russian state-owned media outlet Tass reported that the Prosecutor General has also requested an investigation into whether Meta are guilty of “terrorist propaganda” and “inciting hatred”.
The move comes a week after Facebook was banned in Russia, reportedly because the company were placing restrictions on information posted by state-owned media.
It has also been confirmed that Meta has temporarily eased its hate speech rules, allowing users to wish death upon Vladimir Putin.
“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’. We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” a Meta spokesperson said.
But we all know the real reason Putin wants to take down Instagram is because he can’t post a photo without 20,000 Gen Z’ers leaving thirsty comments to convince him to stop the war.
