After Facebook and Twitter, Russia bans Instagram
Russia announced on Friday that it had blocked access to the Instagram app, which it accuses of spreading calls for violence against Russians over the conflict in Ukraine.
"At the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, access to the Instagram application ... will be prohibited in Russia," the Russian regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement.
A week ago, the authority announced the blocking of Facebook and Twitter, accusing the two social networks of "discrimination" against the Russian media.
Two weeks ago, Russia imposed "access restrictions" on Facebook in response to the social media giant's "censorship" of Russian media and "violation" of the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens.
"In accordance with the decision of the Prosecutor General regarding the social network Facebook, Roscom Nadzor has imposed measures to restrict access" to Facebook as of February 25, without specifying the nature or scope of these restrictions, before Today it was decided to block the site completely.
The authority accused the American communication giant of restricting the official accounts of the Russian "Zvezda" channel linked to the Ministry of Defense, the public news agency "Ria Novosti" and the Russian news sites Lenta and Gazeta.
The statement added that "Roscom Nadzor asked the Meta administration to lift the restrictions imposed by Facebook on the Russian media and explain why it was imposed, but the owners of the network ignored these requests."
The authority confirmed that it had monitored 23 "cases of censorship" imposed by Facebook on Russian media and online content since October 2020.
"The Prosecutor General's Office decided, in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to consider the social network as complicit in violating human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the rights and freedoms of citizens of Russia," the statement noted.
The decision comes at a time when Russia has caused a major geopolitical crisis by launching a massive military operation against Ukraine at dawn on Thursday.
This decision is also part of a series of measures taken in recent years by the Russian authorities against major social media outlets, often justified by protecting minors and combating extremism.
Russian authorities have repeatedly imposed fines on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter, and have also ordered Twitter to slow down.
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