The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies, and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) has recently proclaimed that after blocking the major social network players, Facebook and Twitter, now they have banned the usage of Instagram of Meta Platforms Inc.
The communication agency of the Russian government, Roskomnadzor, has asserted that by March 14, usage of Instagram will be blocked in the country. And not only that, even the Russian government also claimed that it is striving to declare the Facebook an:-
Extremist Organization
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office demanded Roskomnadzor to restrict access to Instagram and stated:-
“On the Instagram social network, several messages are circulating, encouraging and provoking violent acts against Russians.”
While this decision was executed to counter the decision of Facebook, in which Facebook urged the Russian government to temporarily allow the users in some parts of the country to raise their voice against the violence of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and the soldiers of Russia.
Here’s what Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, has stated:-
“We have no quarrel with the Russian people, and allowing Ukrainian calls for violence against the Russian army on Facebook is protecting people’s rights to speech as an expression of self-defense in reaction to a military invasion of their country.”
Apart from this, it has already been announced that Russians have only two days to download their data from Instagram and shift to other social networks, as after March 14, they will not be able to access Instagram.
Along with these social networking sites, Roskomnadzor have also blocked some foreign news outlets like:-
- Voice of America
- BBC
- DW
- Radio Free Europe
- Radio Liberty
In response to this ban, the Russian government has claimed the following reasons:-
- Spreading fake news regarding the invasion of Ukraine.
- Misleading information regarding the Russian military tactics used against Ukraine.
- Fake news regarding Ukrainian civilians was attacked.
- Misleading data regarding the total number of casualties suffered by the Russian army.
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