"Discrimination is evident": why the Russian embassy accused Facebook of censorship

The Russian Embassy in Washington called censorship of Facebook's ongoing attempts to "clean up discussion platforms and Russian media critical to the West."

The diplomatic mission announced this on its page in the social network of the same name.

“At the same time (Facebook. -

) openly misleads users.

He declares that he does not analyze the content of deleted accounts, but immediately gives the subject of the materials posted ... The conclusion suggests itself that it is undesirable to argue on the above topics for users from Russia.

Otherwise, you may end up in the following list of liquidated accounts.

This is censorship, ”the Russian embassy stressed.

The ministry clarified that Facebook does not hide what kind of content fell under the target of the social network: it is “news and current events, including protests and elections in Belarus, the politics of Russia and Ukraine, geopolitical conspiracies, relations between Russia and NATO, Russia's relations with neighboring countries, as well as criticism of US foreign policy, social and economic policy.

Trouble in the US and candidates on both sides of the US political spectrum. ”

At the same time, the Russian embassy emphasized that some of the examples cited by Facebook as evidence of a violation of its policies are "frankly random or absurd."

In particular, we are talking about RIA Novosti infographics about the South Kuril Islands.

“If Facebook doubts their (islands. -

) Russian belonging, it means that the administration questions the decisions of the Yalta Conference of 1945 and the results of the Second World War.

It looks like revisionism (or revanchism), ”the Russian diplomatic mission said in a statement.

• Embassy of Russia in Washington

• AFP

• © JIM WATSON

It is also noted that the Facebook administration announced an "investigation" during which allegedly "some connections of the liquidated accounts with people associated with the Russian special services" were revealed.

“We are sure that if Facebook had started a similar investigation in the United States, many Washington NGOs and most of the leading media would have lost their accounts,” Russian diplomats stressed.

They also stressed that for users from the Russian Federation, Facebook "has ceased to be a space for free exchange of information."

“There is discrimination.

We call on the administration of the social network to stop avoiding constructive communication with the Russian authorities, to establish a normal dialogue on issues of interest to both sides.

The citizens of the United States and Russia will only benefit from this, ”the Russian Embassy said.

"To displace the media content of the Russian media"

Recall that in the summer, Facebook introduced the labeling of media pages, which, according to the company, are "controlled by the state."

The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the social network for this measure, calling this step "another manifestation of the systemic policy of double standards."

At the same time, as noted in the Russian Foreign Ministry, Western media sources receiving funding through the government are not labeled in any way.

According to the Russian side, this is "a violation of the key democratic principles of ensuring the free flow of information and unimpeded access to it."

In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry called the actions of American IT giants, including Facebook, against the Russian media as "politicized and tendentious" due to "the desire to oust the media content of Russian media from the international information space, reducing its citation."

“We call on Internet platforms to resign from the powers of a self-proclaimed political censor and not to deprive their audience of the right to free and unrestricted access to information in violation of fundamental democratic principles,” the message says.

However, tagging Russian media is not the only tool in Facebook's arsenal.

The social network also selectively blocks content distributed by Russian media.

For example, in July, the Facebook administration removed a video about a cure for coronavirus from the RT Arabic page.

The social network considered the posting of such a video recording "a violation of the rules."

Meanwhile, it talked about the first batch of COVID-19 medication that arrived in Russian hospitals.

The material did not contain any false information, but Facebook claimed that "the posting ... violates the community's norms regarding disinformation that can cause physical harm."

Facebook and people collaborating with RT have come under restrictive measures.

So, in January, the social network blocked the page of the journalist Yulia Yuzik after publishing a post with a presentation of a column published on the channel's website, in which the IRGC General Kasem Suleimani was killed during the American military operation.

“I received a Facebook notification, I opened it and read that my post violates community rules, and that's it, I didn't even realize that this was the actual blocking.

When I tried to make some option on Facebook, it showed that my account was blocked for a period of 60 days, ”Yuzik explained, noting that the standard blocking period on the social network is one month.

At the same time, the Facebook administration did not provide any explanations, the journalist clarified.

In February, Facebook restricted access to the personal account of Anna Levchenko, an activist collaborating with RT, head of the Monitoring Center for the Detection of Hazardous and Legally Prohibited Content, a non-profit partnership.

At the same time, Facebook did not previously respond to her appeals about offensive posts, the publication of her personal data and calls for physical harm to her.

• RT camera

• RIA News

• © Mikhail Voskresensky

In addition, in 2019, Facebook blocked the accounts of four Maffick Media projects: In The Now, Waste-Ed, Backthen, and Soapbox.

The CEO of Maffick Media is journalist Anissa Naue, best known for her work on RT.

Not long before that, CNN had a "revealing" story that the projects were linked by RT.

At the same time, information about RT's involvement in projects is not hidden and is in the public domain.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called such a step by Facebook an act of pressure on "sources of information disagreeable to Washington" and a violation of generally accepted principles of freedom of speech. 

At the same time, RT is not the only Russian media affected by the actions of Facebook moderators.

In January last year, the social network deleted about 500 accounts associated with Russia, including seven pages of the agency Sputnik.

This was reported by RIA Novosti.

It was noted that 364 Facebook pages were removed, allegedly due to their involvement in "coordinated inauthentic activities within the network that appeared in Russia and operated in the Baltic States, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Central and Eastern Europe."

The Sputnik press service called the decision of the social network political and "practically censorship."

"Trying to set the curtain"

As political analyst Alexander Asafov noted, "it is quite difficult to find at least some kind of logic in Facebook's decisions to block Russian-language content."

“There is no situational logic in the actions of the moderators of this social network, this is a deliberate political work against Russia in order to minimize the presence of objectionable content on this site.

Facebook wants another position to dominate there, so that it spreads more efficiently, and the pro-Russian point of view does not exist at all, "the analyst said in a conversation with RT.

In turn, the expert of the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Research Vladimir Bruter recalled that Facebook is a territory controlled by American politicians and the political elite of the United States in general.

“The social network is actually fulfilling the applications that come from these circles.

At the same time, Facebook launched such an active activity against the Russian media and accounts, since this is exactly how the corresponding political application looks like.

In relation to American sources, such an approach, of course, will not be, "- said the interlocutor of RT.

According to Bruter, the Facebook administration "is trying to create a situation where access to information coming from Russia will be extremely limited."

“It is important for the management of this social network in general to minimize the possibility of an ordinary Western reader to get acquainted with this kind of data.

Facebook is actually trying to set up some kind of curtain to prevent information from leaking from Russia.

This applies to RT, Sputnik, and many other media outlets.

Facebook wants to create a situation where the Russian media will not be able to exert any influence on the reading Western audience, ”the analyst said.

At the same time, Asafov explained the tightening of such a policy on the social network by the fact that "Facebook began to interact more with the special services of the United States." 

“Based on this, Facebook closes accounts, including Russian media, not for a couple of months, but forever,” the expert added.

• Facebook logo

• Reuters

• © Dado Ruvic

Asafov predicts that "this process will continue and, quite possibly, soon we will see the blocking of large Russian and state media on Facebook."

“Ordinary users who wrote, in the opinion of the social network, sloppy words, joked something wrong, posted the wrong picture or photo, will continue to suffer.

Moreover, complaints about such content will no longer be a mandatory requirement for a ban.

Posts will be blocked purely for political reasons, ”the analyst said.

As Asafov noted, one should not expect from Facebook "justice, equality and respect for users, as well as, paradoxically, compliance with its own rules."

“This social network operates exclusively for political purposes,” the expert concluded.