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Facebook on Friday became the first American tech giant to be blocked by the Russian government as part of the Kremlin’s expanding campaign to tighten control of the internet and limit areas of opposition about the war in Ukraine.
The move could herald further restrictions on other tech companies like Google, which owns YouTube and Twitter. Both are under pressure from the Russian government.
Russia’s internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that Facebook would be blocked because there were 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media. The report also referred to Facebook’s steps to restrict Russian media outlets such as Zvezda, RIA Novosti, Sputnik, Russia Today. Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru.
The company said Instagram and WhatsApp, which are also owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, were not affected. Both are more popular in Russia than Facebook’s main blue app.
The move is part of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s actions to break up opposition to the war in Ukraine. government on Friday Passed a law making it illegal to spread what he calls “false information” About the armed forces of Russia, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The law will come into effect as soon as Saturday, and could make it a crime to simply call war a “war” on social media or in a news article or publication—which the Kremlin says is a “special military operation”. Most of the few remaining independent news organizations in Russia closed in anticipation of the law.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of global affairs, said in a statement that Russia’s blocking of the social network would harm the citizens of the country.
“Soon, millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves deprived of reliable information, deprived of daily means of communication with family and friends, and silenced without speaking,” he said, adding that Meta will work to restore Facebook services in the country.
Later on Friday, Facebook announced that it would do so. pause the ability of ad systems To target users in Russia. The company said that advertisers in Russia can no longer create or run Facebook ads anywhere in the world, including within the country.
Russia has built in recent years an extensive censorship infrastructure this allows it to block or slow down access to certain websites. He used the system to slow down access to Twitter. In the past, authorities have also instructed internet service providers across Russia to implement their decisions.
Facebook has no employees in Russia and is not very popular with the public. However, it became a place where people could voice their criticism of the government and find information outside of state-run media outlets.
An even bigger target for the Russian government will be YouTube, which is hugely popular in the country as an entertainment and news source. Many analysts questioned whether Putin would ban YouTube because it would not be politically popular. At least with Facebook the account seems to have changed.
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