At the request of the country’s government, Meta has taken its most significant action yet against Russian state media amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. On Sunday, Nick Clegg, the company’s president of global affairs, said Meta was restricting some Russian accounts in the war-torn country.
“We have been in contact with the Ukrainian government and, at their request, we have also restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media,” Clegg said. We reached out to Meta to ask the company to clarify how it restricts these accounts.
Clegg noted that Ukraine also asked Meta to limit Russia’s access to Facebook and Instagram. For now, the company has denied that claim, saying people in the country have used its platforms to organize anti-war protests and access independent information. “We believe disabling our services would silence an important expression at a crucial time,” he said.
This most recent move comes after Meta blocked Russian state media or using other monetization features. Russian telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor has threatened to throttle and restrict access to Facebook after company officials refused to stop fact-checking state-backed media organizations on the platform. Clegg said Sunday that the company will continue to label and verify the contents of those outlets. He also confirmed, following reports from the internet monitoring organization that the Russian government had begun to restrict access to its social networks.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
