Russia Restricts Use Of Facebook, Meta Reply Bans Russian Media Advertising And Monetization Of Content Worldwide

JAKARTA – The Russian government said on Friday, February 25 that it had partially restricted access to Facebook Meta Platforms Inc. This was done because Moscow accused Facebook of "censoring" Russian media.

The announcement of the decision came a day after Russia invaded Ukraine, 24 February. It is also Russia's latest decision in a series of moves against the US social media giant.

Moscow has also stepped up pressure on domestic media, threatening to block reports containing what it describes as "false information" about its military operations in Ukraine. Even though it was clear that Russian missiles had hit Kiev and forced families across Ukraine to huddle and hide in shelters.

Russia's communications regulator said Facebook had ignored its demands to lift restrictions on four Russian media outlets on its platform. For example the RIA news agency, Zvezda TV Ministry of Defense, and the websites gazeta.ru and lenta.ru.

Meta has indeed banned Russian state media from running ads or monetizing content on its platform, anywhere in the world, since last Friday.

"We also continue to apply additional labels to Russian state media," Meta's head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said on Twitter. "These changes have already started rolling out and will continue through the weekend."

"We now prohibit Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platforms anywhere in the world," Gleicher said.

1/ We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world. We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media. These changes have already begun rolling out and will continue into the weekend.

— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) February 26, 2022

Meta's head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, made the statement via Twitter. "Yesterday, the Russian authorities ordered us to stop independent fact-checking and labeling of content posted to Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. We refused. As a result, they announced they would restrict the use of our services."

Meta, which has long been under pressure to combat misinformation, partnered with outside fact-checkers, including Reuters, who assessed the veracity of some content. Meta says that content that is rated incorrect, modified, or partially incorrect, will be shown to fewer users.

Clegg said "regular Russians" use the Meta apps, which include Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as Facebook, to "express themselves and organize actions" and that the company wants them to continue to do so.

Ordinary Russians are using @Meta's apps to express themselves and organize for action. We want them to continue to make their voices heard, share what's happening, and organize through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. pic.twitter.com/FjTovgslCe

— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) February 25, 2022

Russia has also been trying to exercise tighter control over the internet and big technology for years. This is something critics say threatens individual and corporate freedoms and is part of a wider crackdown on outspoken opponents of the Kremlin.

US Senator Mark Warner said in a letter to the chief executives of Facebook, YouTube and others that companies have an obligation to ensure their social media platforms are not misused by Russian-linked entities.

"Every company has a "clear responsibility" to ensure that your products are not used to facilitate human rights abuses, undermine humanitarian and emergency services responses, or promote harmful disinformation," Warner said.

Alphabet Inc's Google said it had removed hundreds of YouTube channels and thousands of videos over the past few days for violating its policies and continued to seek and disrupt disinformation and hacking campaigns. "Google is also evaluating what the new sanctions and export controls mean for the company," said Alphabet spokeswoman Ivy Choi.

Twitter Inc also said users in Russia and Ukraine will no longer see ads. This is - an attempt to avoid interference from public security messages. It also means that they won't get recommended tweets from accounts they don't follow in an effort to limit the spread of abusive content.

It was not immediately clear what the Russian restrictions on Facebook would involve. Last year Moscow slowed down Twitter speed as a form of punishment.

"In accordance with the decision of the Attorney General's Office, from February 25, Roskomnadzor imposed partial access restrictions on the social network Facebook," the regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement.

Meta has also irritated the Russian authorities. Moscow routinely fines companies small amounts for what it says are failures to remove illegal content quickly enough.

In December, they issued a much larger fine of 2 billion rubles (Rp342 billion) for what they described as repeated failures to remove content. They have also fined Google, Twitter and TikTok.