Russian financial monitoring agency Rosfinmonitoring has added US tech giant Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, to its list of “terrorists and extremists.”
The decision on Tuesday puts Meta on the same list as right-wing nationalist groups; foreign “terrorist organisations”, including the Taliban; and Russian opposition groups reports Aljazeera.
In late March, Russia banned Facebook and Instagram for “carrying out extremist activities” after authorities accused Meta of tolerating “Russophobia” during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Facebook and Instagram have been inaccessible in Russia since March, but many Russians resorted to using VPNs to keep using social media networks.
Instagram is particularly popular in Russia and is an important platform for advertisement and sales.
Meta had announced on March 10 that the platforms would allow statements like “death to Russian invaders” but not credible threats against civilians.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
