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Russia on Friday restricted access to Instagram and consequently launched a criminal case against its owner Meta, as Moscow fired back at the tech company for allowing posts calling for violence against Russian forces.
Russia's attack on Ukraine has resulted in unprecedented sanctions from western governments and businesses, but also a surge of online anger and debates over social media's role in the war.
A day after Meta said it had temporarily eased its rules to allow for calls to violence, Russia's media regulator said it was restricting access to hugely popular Instagram because it contains “calls to commit violent acts".
Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, also said it was launching an investigation of Meta, and prosecutors pushed for the Silicon Valley company to be branded “extremist".
Meta's statement on the eased policy followed a Reuters report that said the change applied to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine, citing the firm's emails to its content moderators.
The company has not replied to a request seeking confirmation of the policy's geographic boundaries, but noted it does not “allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians".
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Members of the Russian police force and Rosgvardia, the country’s domestic army, patrol Red Square, Moscow. AFP -
A Renault car showroom in St Petersburg. Reuters -
An Ikea store in Khimki, about 18 kilometres north-west of Moscow. Bloomberg -
Traditional Russian dolls, also known as matryoshki, sit in the window of a Swatch Group wristwatch shop at the GUM department store in Moscow. Bloomberg -
A Chanel concession occupies the middle of the lower floor of the GUM department store, on Red Square in the Russian capital. Bloomberg -
Food manufactured by Nestle sits on display inside the Detsky Mir children’s goods store on Vozdvizhenka St, Moscow. Bloomberg -
US chipmaker Intel Corp’s ‘smart building’ in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, Israel. Intel announced on Tuesday that it was suspending operations in Russia. Reuters -
A woman walks past a closed H&M store in Moscow. Reuters -
An electronic billboard on RusHydro’s Institute Hydroproject building in Moscow displays a Samsung advert. Reuters -
Customers queue to enter Uniqlo in Moscow. In early March, the Japanese fashion brand said it would stop selling clothes in Russia, having earlier defended its decision to keep its stores in the country open. Reuters -
A Marks & Spencer store in the Afimall City mall at Moscow International Business Centre. Bloomberg -
An Apple store at the Aviapark shopping centre in Khoroshyovsky, Moscow, in 2020. Bloomberg -
A woman drinks coffee inside a Starbucks cafe in Khimki in 2007. Reuters -
An employee fills the tank of a car at a BP petrol station in Moscow in 2016. Reuters -
People eat at McDonald’s in central Moscow in 2016. Reuters -
An advert for US soft drink giant Pepsi sits above a sign for a McDonald's restaurant in Moscow. AFP -
Bottles of Coca-Cola are displayed at Colonial Liquors in Corte Madera, California. In early March, the soft drinks brand said it was withdrawing from the Russian market. AFP -
The Netflix building on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The streaming site has suspended its services in Russia. AFP -
TikTok’s UK office in London. The Chinese company has restricted uploads to its social media service in Russia to avoid falling foul of the country’s strict new online publishing rules. AFP
Meta's relaxing of its rules met immediately with controversy and the UN has voiced alarm, saying it could spark “hate speech” against Russians.
UN rights office spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell said that the policy lacked clarity, which “could certainly contribute to hate speech directed at Russians in general".
Meta, which has billions of users globally across its apps, has previously struggled with what it allows people to post in moments of upheaval.
In July 2021, the firm temporarily allowed posts calling for “death to Khamenei”, referring to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during protests that rocked the country.
Tech platforms have had to navigate a series of thorny issues related to the war in Ukraine, such as when Lindsey Graham, a US senator, called for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised interview and on Twitter.
“The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out,” says Mr Graham's tweet from March 3, which Twitter has not taken down.
Meta's decision drew sharply contrasting views.
“The policy regards calls for violence against Russian soldiers,” said Emerson Brooking, a disinformation expert at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.
“A call for violence here, by the way, is also a call for resistance because Ukrainians resist a violent invasion,” he added.
But some expressed deep concerns, like Lehigh University professor Jeremy Littau, who tweeted: "'We don't allow hate speech except against certain people from a certain country' is one hell of a can of worms.”
Facebook and other US tech companies have moved to penalise Russia for the attack on Ukraine and Moscow has also taken steps to block access to the leading social media network as well as Twitter.
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Graffiti depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holding a bullet-ridden 'Stop' sign by urban artist Tvboy appeared on a street in downtown Barcelona, Spain. EPA -
A painting on a wall near the Russian embassy in Rome, by street artist Laika 1954, shows Russian and Ukrainian tanks making the peace symbol. AFP -
A mural painted by Syrian artists in the rebel-held town of Binnish in Syria's Idlib province to protest against Russia's military operation in Ukraine. AFP -
An Indian artist draws a poster during a protest in Kolkata. EPA -
Artists helped to recreate 'A Dove Has Spread Her Wings and Asks for Peace' by the late Ukrainian painter Maria Prymachenko. The artist had 25 paintings in the Ivankiv Local Museum of History, near Kyiv, which was destroyed by Russian forces. EPA -
Maria Prymachenko was celebrated for her folk art. EPA -
A woman walks past a tank sculpture painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag by Czech artist David Cerny in Prague. AFP -
A man takes a picture of a fresco by street artist Seth globepainter depicting a girl with a Ukrainian flag walking on tanks in Paris. AFP -
A street art painting by French artist Emyart dedicated to the Ukranian people. AFP -
A street art painting created by French street artist Kelu Abstract in Paris. AFP -
An Indian artist makes a sand sculpture calling for peace on Juhu beach in Mumbai. AP -
An installation by street artist Gregos representing a face in the colors of Ukraine's flag and holding a symbol of peace, in Paris. AFP -
Street artist MyDogSighs's mural in Northcote Lane, Cardiff of a weeping eye in the colours of the Ukrainian flag. PA -
Kosovo artist Alkent Pozhegu works on the final touches of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's portrait made with grains and seeds, in Gjakova, southwestern Kosovo. AFP -
A peace mural showing a dove with a branch in Ukrainian colours by artist Justus Becker is painted on the wall of a house in Frankfurt, Germany. AP -
A woman passes a mural by Berlin street artist Eme Freethinker featuring Russian and Ukrainian girls in Berlin, Germany. AP -
Colombian street artist Arte Vilu works on a mural featuring a Ukrainian woman in traditional dress in Berlin, Germany. AP -
Lidiya Zhuravlyova, an Ukrainian performance artist, takes part in an anti-war protest in Bangkok, Thailand. Reuters
Russia thus joined the very small club of countries barring the largest social network in the world, along with China and North Korea.
Since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last month, Russian authorities have stepped up pressure against independent media, though press freedoms in the country were already rapidly waning.
Moscow blocked Facebook and restricted Twitter the same day last week that it backed the imposition of jail terms on media publishing “false information” about the military.
In this context, Facebook had played a key information distribution role in Russia, even as it endures withering criticism in the West over matters including political division and teenagers' mental health.
The war is running parallel with a period of unprecedented crackdown on the Russian opposition, which has included protest leaders being assassinated, jailed or forced out of the country.
Big US tech firms such Apple and Microsoft have announced they are halting the sale of their products in Russia, while other companies have made public their “pauses” of certain business activities or ties.
