According to the database of the Federal service for Financial monitoring, Russia recently added the US tech giant Meta, to its list of terrorist and extremist organisations. Meta's major services such as Facebook and Instagram will be cut off in Russia. During the Russia and Ukraine wars, Russia suspected Meta of tolerating Russophobia, which refers to a strong dislike towards Russia and Russian things. In March 2022, Russia banned Instagram and Facebook for carrying out extreme activities. But Meta’s lawyer had stated that they were against Russophobia and did not carry out any extreme activities against Russia. Many users still resort to VPNs to use these social networking sites. The banning of these platforms has caused major problems for advertisers, especially Instagram as it was a crucial platform for advertising and sales.
Russia banned Instagram when on 24th February, Meta claimed that it would permit users in Ukraine to post about violence against the Russian President, Vladimir Putin and the troops Moscow had sent to Ukraine. Russia also claimed that Meta had allowed posts that called for the death of Russian high officials only if they did not include other targets, methods or locations. Russian officials said that they may allow Meta to operate in Russia but only on the basis of certain terms and conditions. Russian tech regulators blocked access to Facebook in March 2022 because they accused the platform of restricting user access to government-based news outlets such as Russia Today. Russia stated that it took this harsh step to fight against the tensions during the Russia-Ukraine war and make sure Russia and its citizens are safe and do not indulge in any anti-state activities.
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