Meta Is Now Labelled A Terrorist Group In Russia

Meta has been designated a “terrorist and extremist” group in Russia. The parent company, along with subsidiaries Facebook and Instagram, was added to the list by Rosfinmonitoring, Moscow’s financial monitoring agency.

Russia’s latest move against the US-based Meta comes after its two major social networks were banned back in March, after it was accused of tolerating and “Russophobia”. An accusation that came right after the country invaded neighbouring Ukraine.

Specifically, Moscow says that Meta was allowing anti-Russian rethoric, such as “death to Russian invaders”, to be used freely. Not long after, the social network changed it so that those statements could only be made by users posting from within the now war-ravaged Ukraine.

Since the ban, both Facebook and Instagram have been inaccessible in Russia. So, as you can expect, many Russians that still want to use either platform have resorted to using VPNs in order to bypass Moscow’s firewalls. Instagram, in particular, is a popular app within the country, especially since many brands, companies, and individuals use it to advertise and sell their products.

At this stage, Russia’s move against Meta shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us and for that matter, such incidents are becoming more commonplace, especially with US-based companies. For example, NVIDIA, the US GPU brand, said at the start of the month that it was ceasing all operations within Russia and that it would help relocate its remaining staff there to wherever they wish to go, should they wish to stay in its employment.

As another example of Meta’s plight, Google suspended all its billing systems in Russia back in March, effectively barring its Russian consumers and users from being able to purchase apps and games, pay for subscriptions, or even make in-app purchases from Google Play.

Meta and other US-based companies aside, it’s also not looking good at the war front for Moscow; since the beginning of its invasion, it has lost more men and equipment than it had initially anticipated. To add insult to injury, its belief that it would take the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv within days feel flat on its face, and the country’s armed forces and locals putting up fierce resistance against them, and even rapidly recapturing territory.

(Source: Al Jazeera)