Facebook is said to have imposed restrictions on the Russian Defense Ministry’s TV channel Zvezda. It was also said that the Russian news agency RIA Novosti and some online newspapers had to deal with the blockade.
Meta says the restrictions were in retaliation for fact-checking news from Russian state media. The country’s authorities are said to have ordered Facebook to stop independent fact-checking and flagging of posts from Russian state media. “We declined it. They then announced that they would limit the use of our services,” the company wrote in response, posted on Twitter by Meta Vice President Nick Clegg.
The announcement of sanctions against Facebook comes at the request of Russian prosecutors, writes Roskomnadzor. The same organization says there have been 23 cases of censorship of Russian media and internet sources since October 2020. It is not immediately clear what the exact restrictions imposed on Facebook entail.
Facebook was previously criticized as a platform that quickly spreads fake news, including news from Russia. Through fake news via Facebook, the so-called trolls from Russia tried to influence the US presidential election in 2016, among other things, the company itself and US intelligence services reported.
