RUSSIA TO PROBE META FOR ALLOWING VIOLENT THREATS AGAINST SOLDIERS

Fri 11 March 2022:

Following claims that the US tech giant Meta changed its rules to enable calls for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers on its platforms in the context of Moscow’s conflict on Ukraine, the Russian Investigative Committee initiated a criminal inquiry against it on Friday.

“The Main Investigative Department of the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case in connection with illegal calls for murder and violence against citizens of the Russian Federation, made by employees of the American company Meta, which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram,” a statement said.

Separately, TASS reports that the head of the Duma’s Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, has called on Instagram to be banned if reports that Meta adjusted its moderation policies to allow users to call for violence against Russian soldiers are true. State communications agency Roskomnadzor also issued a statement asking Meta “as soon as possible to confirm or refute” the reports.

“If Meta confirms this fact or declines to comment, that will be a reason for Roscomnadzor [sic] and other colleagues to take the toughest measures,” Khinshtein told TASS. “My opinion is that the work of Instagram in Russia in this case should be blocked, like what’s happened to Facebook.”

“Andy Stone, the company’s press secretary, announced on the social network that Meta had temporarily lifted the ban on calls for violence against the Russian military on its platforms, calling it ‘a form of political expression.'”

The readout added that Meta’s approval of appeals against the Russian military fall under articles 280 and 205.1 of the Russian Criminal code – public calls to carry out extremist activities, and assistance terrorist activities.

The necessary investigative measures are being carried out to give a legal assessment of the actions by Stone and other employees of the US corporation, it said.

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation asked the court to recognize Meta as an extremist organization and ban its activities in Russia.

In a separate statement, the Russian Embassy in the US urged Washington to stop Meta’s “extremist activities.”

“We demand that authorities stop the extremist activities of @Meta, take measures to bring the perpetrators to justice,” it said in a statement. “Users of #Facebook amp; #Instagram did not give the owners of these platforms the right to determine the criteria of truth and pit nations against each other.”

Last week, Russia’s communications watchdog blocked access to Facebook in response to restrictions the social network imposed on several Russian media outlets.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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