According to the Russian Interfax News Agency reported on the 11th, Russian prosecutors have asked the Russian court on Friday to identify the parent company of the US social network platform "Facebook" "Meta" as an "extremist organization". At the same time, Russian prosecutors also asked Russia's state communications regulator to restrict access to Facebook and Instagram, another social platform owned by Metascope.
Screenshot of the report
Russian officials said on Friday that if U.S. Meta did allow users to incite violence against Russians on its platform, Russia would consider taking steps to ban the company's activities in Russia, Reuters reported.
Previously, Reuters said that Meta's internal emails showed that during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the company would relax its original anti-hate speech policy, allowing users to publish death curses and other violent speech against the leaders of Russia and Belarus. The email said the interim arrangement was limited to the period of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and could not "visibly attack Russian civilians" or target those captured in the conflict. Moreover, even if the leader of the other side is cursed, there can be no mention of a clear location or a means of attempting to cause death.
Although the email said that the temporary arrangement for the relaxation of restrictions is for users in Eastern European countries such as Ukraine, it is not known whether users of their platforms in other regions can also successfully make such remarks without restriction.
After Meta adjusted its rules to allow its facebook and other social platforms to post violent remarks against Russia, the Russian embassy in the United States demanded that Washington must hold the American company accountable for extremist activities, according to the Russian satellite news agency. Roskomnadzor, the Russian Federal Agency for The Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media , asked Meta to immediately confirm or deny changes to Facebook and Instagram regulations for Russian citizens, including military personnel of the armed forces.
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Kremlin spokesman Peskov told reporters on Friday: "We don't want to believe the Reuters report, it's unbelievable." Peskov said: "We hope this is not true, because if so, (we) will take the most decisive measures to ban the activities of this company." ”
Russia's Satellite News Agency said western condemnations of Russia's military operations in Ukraine have sparked a wave of cyberbullying that many see as a manifestation of massive Russia-phobic sentiment.
Commenting on the matter, Peskov said: "In fact, in some Western countries, the attitude of hatred towards Russians and Russian citizens is getting worse and worse. This is very dangerous, and our citizens must be vigilant and maintain proper vigilance. Of course, we hope that the authorities of all countries will not further fuel this hatred and Russian-phobic sentiment through their statements. ”
Subsequently, Reuters reported that a spokesperson for Meta confirmed that its social platform temporarily relaxed regulations on political speech, allowing posts such as "Russian invaders die" but not violent appeals against Russian civilians. The new regulations apply to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine.
In an email to its social platform staff, Meta said it would allow "violent speech that should have been removed under a hate speech policy" :(a) target Russian soldiers, except prisoners of war, or (b) russians in the context of Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine (e.g., references to invasion, self-defense, etc.) in the context of its "invasion" of Ukraine, Reuters said.
On the other hand, the UN Human Rights Office said potential changes to Facebook's rules were "worrying."
The Russian Embassy in Washington said in a statement on Friday: "Meta's aggressive and criminal policies, which have led to hatred and hostility towards Russians, are intolerable." ”
Alexander Khinshtein, chairman of the Russian State Duma's Information Policy and Information Technology Commission, said the State Duma would file a lawsuit against the move with the Russian Attorney General's Office and the Commission of Inquiry. "If this is true, then after Facebook, the operation of Instagram should of course be banned in Russia," he said.
Reuters mentioned that Russia said last week that it would ban Facebook in the country in response to social platforms restricting access to Russian media.
(Editor: WDQ)