After Facebook made the move to restrict some Russian-owned media, the state has reportedly blocked access to Facebook.
This followed a prior call for Meta to remove Facebook from Russia as a form of social media sanction. The move didn’t take place due to concerns that this would limit locals’ access to independent media, as a Forbes report expresses.
However, Facebook ended up being banned from Russian access anyway, via a Russian directive.
In a media statement titled ‘Response measures taken to restrict access to Russian media’, the country’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, noted that the decision was undertaken to combat discrimination against Russian media since October 2020. According to the statement, 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media by Facebook have been tallied.
“On March 4, 2022, a decision was made to block access to the Facebook network ( (owned by Meta Platforms, Inc.) in the Russian Federation.”
In response to the decision, a Meta executive spoke out:
“Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out,” Nick Clegg, president of global affairs for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, expressed on Twitter.
The ban also followed a series of challenges for Russian media outlets that operate in the West. It’s been reported that some of these had moves made against them by the state, as part of what Russia deems ‘the control of misinformation’. This has led to content throttling and restriction plans by social media giants.
A spiral ensued that led to restricted access to some Russian media outlets, including Russia Today and Sputnik across the European Union according to a Meta spokesperson, reports The Guardian.
Soon thereafter, reports surfaced that Twitter had also been blocked in Russia, as per Russian publication Interfax.
However, Twitter seems to be facing more of a restriction basis, than a full-on block as some conflicting reports indicate.
All in all, what we can interpret from the social media restriction wars, is very much a case of censorship on both sides. For the tech giants, censoring what they deem to be propaganda, and from the Russian side, what they deem misinformation. Beyond media narratives, it’s a conflicting wedge for social media diplomacy and for the freedom of the individual’s free speech in my opinion, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt.
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