Authorities threatened the ban after Facebook continued limiting access to certain state-sponsored news and website.
Russian authorities are planning to limit access to social media Meta Platform’s Facebook (MVRS) – Get Meta Report in retaliation for what they claim was a concerted push by the platform to censor its national media.
Reuters reports that Russia’s official state communicator, Roskomnadzor, has threatened the ban after Facebook continued limiting access to certain state-sponsored news and website.
“In accordance with the decision of the General Prosecutor’s Office, starting from Feb. 25, partial access restrictions are being imposed by Roskomnadzor on the Facebook social network,” it said in a statement.
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What’s Being Blocked By Facebook?
Facebook currently has restrictions on gazeta.ru, lenta,ru, Zvezda TV and the RIA agency. The Russian defense ministry runs Zvezda TV and Facebook has restricted the others.
Facebook had no immediate comment.
Russian authorities said the ban was necessary given a lack of response from the social media company.
Here’s Why This Is Happening
The statement also said it had logged 23 cases of Facebook infringing on “the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens,” since October 2020.
“On February 24, Roskomnadzor sent requests to the administration of Meta Platforms, Inc. [to] remove the restrictions imposed by the social network Facebook on Russian media and explain the reason for their introduction,” the statement continued.
Russian authorities gave no indication of how a ban on Facebook might look in the country.
But some Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter, Inc. Report users had their own take.
Twitter Has Its Own Russian Turbulence
The choice to remove access to one of the world’s most widely used social media networks comes a day after another major platform, Twitter, said it had accidentally locked accounts reporting on conflict in Ukraine.
In that instance, Twitter said it reviewed the content from users, found it credible and then reopened those accounts.
It also issued a detailed guide for users in Eastern Europe that outlined how to tell if their account had been hacked, how to delete an account and how to set up two-factor authentication.
Researchers monitoring updates about the conflict, which is material that is commonly known as open-source intelligence (OSINT), have been keeping international authorities apprised of how freely information is flowing in and out of the conflict zone thus far.
Other Twitter users shared their thoughts on the potential ban.
