Tverskoy Court of Moscow has placed a ban, and thus prohibiting People in Russia from accessing Meta applications – Facebook and Instagram,
The unremorseful ban followed after long weeks of arguments between Meta and the Kremlin, in response to Facebooks removal of restrictions on posts inciting violence against Russian invaders in Ukraine.
According to Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow banned the Meta Platforms
Russian prosecutors insisted extremist materials were posted on Facebook and Instagram and that Meta called for “participation in mass uncoordinated actions”, as well as calls for violence against Russian citizens.
“Meta will be deprived of the opportunity to open branches and conduct any commercial activity,” the prosecutor explained.
Facebook management reportedly did not agree with the ruling and subsequently rejected the claims ,whilst pointing out that its Meta Platforms routinely removes discriminatory posts and that the new rules at the platform do not allow incitement to violence of any civilians in the Russian Federation, and that the company opposes discrimination against Russians and calls for genocide.
Meanwhile it has been discovered that Russian developers are creating their own clone of Instagram called ‘Rossgram. It will launch on March 28 and is designed to work almost exactly like Instagram.
The above ban on Facebook and Instagram is not applicable to messaging app WhatsApp which is also owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s tech company Meta.