RUSSIA has reportedly opened a criminal case against Meta Platforms over its temporary violent speech policy.
The move by the Kremlin is in direct retaliation to the social media giant allowing calls for violence against Russian soldiers on its apps, which include Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
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“A criminal case has been initiated … in connection with illegal calls for murder and violence against citizens of the Russian Federation by employees of the American company Meta,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said, according to Reuters.
The Russian prosecutor general’s office asked a court to designate Meta an “extremist organization” and ban it from operating in the country after the social media giant changed its hate speech rules on Friday, per the Wall Street Journal.
The prosecutor’s office added that Meta’s actions not only constitute terrorist activity but also incite “hatred and enmity” towards Russian citizens.
“Meta’s aggressive and criminal policy leading to incitement of hatred and hostility towards Russians is outrageous,” the country’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a Telegram post.
“Media corporations have become soldiers of the propaganda machine of the Western establishment,” the ministry added.
Meta said it would temporarily change its stance on political expression in some countries to allow Facebook and Instagram users to convey violent speech about Russian forces in the context of the war in Ukraine.
The tech company specified on Thursday that this move was in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and would allow for expressions like “death to the Russian invaders.”
“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,” a Meta spokesperson said.
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“We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” the spokesperson added.
Hostility between the Kremlin and American tech giants – the growing list includes Google, Meta, Apple, IBM, Microsoft – has been escalating over the past few weeks as the war in Ukraine rages on.
Last week, Russia announced that it would block civilians’ access to Facebook and since then the media platform has been heavily restricted.
“Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information,” Meta President for Global Affairs Nick Clegg said in a statement.
“We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action,” Clegg added.
As of late Friday, Instagram still looks to be available in Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal.
