Instagram users in Russia are told service will cease from midnight

Meta narrows guidance to restrict calls for death of a head of state
Meta narrows guidance to restrict calls for death of a head of state Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022
By Reuters
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

- Instagram users in Russia have been notified that the service will cease from midnight on Sunday after its owner Meta Platforms said last week it would allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages such as "Death to the Russian invaders".

An email message from the state communications regulator told people to move their photos and videos from Instagram before it was shut down, and encouraged them to switch to Russia's own "competitive internet platforms".

Meta, which also owns Facebook, said on Friday that the temporary change in its hate speech policy applied only to Ukraine, in the wake of Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

The company said it would be wrong to prevent Ukrainians from "expressing their resistance and fury at the invading military forces".

The decision was greeted with outrage in Russia, where authorities have opened a criminal investigation against Meta and prosecutors on Friday asked a court to designate the U.S. tech giant as an "extremist organisation".

The head of Instagram has said the block will affect 80 million users. Russia has already banned Facebook in the country in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on the platform.

The message to Instagram users from the regulator Roskomnadzor described the decision to allow calls for violence against Russians as a breach of international law.

"We need to ensure the psychological health of citizens, especially children and adolescents, to protect them from harassment and insults online," it said, explaining the decision to close down the platform.

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Italy raises security alert level for Easter weekend following Moscow attacks

Prime Ministers of Poland and Ukraine make progress on easing farmer anger

French budget deficit rose to 5.5% in 2023