Russia has decided to add United States-based tech giant Meta to its list of “terrorists and extremists,” according to a report by the Interfax news agency. The announcement was made by Russia’s financial monitoring agency – Rosfinmonitoring – as the conflict gains momentum in Ukraine.
Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office submitted a written request for this ban last week.
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Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is owned by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg and in March earlier this year, it was found guilty of “extremist activity” in Russia by a Moscow court. The case was filed after Meta was accused of allowing posts that called for violence against the Russian military in Ukraine.
As a result of this decision, people in Russia will not have any access to the services provided by Meta – which includes extremely popular social media platforms Instagram and Facebook. According to Insider, the ban can come into effect almost immediately depending on the government’s will.
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Zuckerberg is already on the list of individuals who were barred by the Russian foreign ministry from entering the country back in April. The tech billionaire was part of a list that include US Vice President Kamala Harris, EO of LinkedIn Ryan Roslansky, and more than 900 other American citizens.
In the official statement, Rosfinmonitoring said that Meta has been biased towards the western countries in the coverage of the Ukraine-Russia crisis. They said that the company is “discriminating” against Russian news outlets and have restricted user access to outlets like Sputnik and Russia Today.
