Russia threatens to ban Facebook, Instagram amid calls for violence against soldiers

The seat of power in Russia, Kremlin, has issued threats to ban Facebook and Instagram over calls for violence against Russia.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led company had earlier on Friday shown solidarity to calls for violence against Russian soldiers on its platforms in some countries.

In what it described as a “necessary” move, Russia alleged that both Facebook and Instagram had publicly discriminated against its media and information resources.

In a statement issued on Friday, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, through its spokesperson, Andy Stone, expressed need to allow some “forms of political expressions” that was against Russia.

READ ALSO: Aliko Dangote wants govt to ban maize export to prevent Russia, Ukraine fallout

“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders.’ We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” Andy Stone said.

Since the commencement of its invasion of Ukraine from February 24, 2022, Russia has blocked a number of media platforms including BBC, Deutsche Welle, and Twitter.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now