• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • New Yorkers gather to watch ‘Manhattanhenge’
  • Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows
  • ‘This is Disgusting and Wrong’: Disney Blasted by Conservative Critics After Male Disneyland Employee Dons Dress and Makeup

Russia Blocks Facebook, Accusing it of Restricting Access to Russian Media;

Towleroad March 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

 
Published by
Reuters
 
498426 origin 1

By Elizabeth Culliford

(Reuters) -Russia is blocking Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook, the country’s communications regulator said on Friday, in response to what it said were restrictions on access to Russian media on the platform.

The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said there had been 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media by Facebook since October 2020, including restrictions in recent days on state-backed channels like RT and the RIA news agency.

The move is a major escalation in an ongoing confrontation between big tech companies and Russia, which has in recent years issued a slew of fines and hobbled services through slowdowns. The tensions have ramped up amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation.”

Meta’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg said the company would continue to do everything it could to restore its services.

“Soon millions of ordinary Russian will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out,” he said, in a statement posted on Twitter.

Last week, Moscow said it was partially limiting access to Facebook, a move the company said came after it refused a government request to stop the independent fact-checking of several Russian state media outlets. On Saturday, Twitter also said its service was being restricted for some Russian users.

Major tech companies have faced pressure to respond to the Feb. 24 invasion, which has led to economic sanctions against Moscow by governments around the world. Russian state-run media has emerged as a key flashpoint between Moscow and social media platforms during the conflict.

Meta this week said it had restricted access to RT and Sputnik across the European Union and was globally demoting content from Russian state-controlled outlets’ Facebook pages and Instagram accounts, as well as posts containing links to those outlets on Facebook.

Russia has made several moves to crack down on foreign news media in recent days. It cut access to several news organizations’ websites, including the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for spreading what it says is false information about its actions in Ukraine.

Meta had about 7.5 million users on Facebook in Russia as of last year and 122.2 million users across its other services, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, according to estimates from Insider Intelligence. The leading Russia-based social network VK had 63 million users, the researcher estimated.

Popular VPN apps have been downloaded more than 1.3 million times in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began, according to data from researcher AppFigures, which described the figure as a major surge.

Roskomnadzor said in its statement that Meta had restricted access to the accounts of state-backed news outlets in recent days, listing RT, Sputnik, the RIA news agency, the defense ministry’s Zvezda TV and websites gazeta.ru and lenta.ru.

It said such restrictions violated the key principles of freedom of information and Russian internet users’ unimpeded access to Russian media.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jonathan Oatis)

Topics: Aaon, Featured, News, Social Media More Posts About: facebook, Meta Platforms, News, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, RT, Russia, Sputnik, Voice of America

Related Posts
  • DeSantis Debunked: Shocking Little-Known Facts About the Controversial Florida Governor’s Past
  • N.J. library employee fired after supervisor objected to his gay ‘lifestyle,’ complaint alleges
  • AI chatbot company Replika restores erotic roleplay for some users
  • Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows

    Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows

    Published by DPA Our memory of events during lockdown is on a similar level to prison inmates, according to new reseach showing that many who stayed at home during the pandemic struggle to recall the timing …Read More »
  • ‘This is Disgusting and Wrong’: Disney Blasted by Conservative Critics After Male Disneyland Employee Dons Dress and Makeup

    ‘This is Disgusting and Wrong’: Disney Blasted by Conservative Critics After Male Disneyland Employee Dons Dress and Makeup

    Published by Radar Online @KourtniFaber/TikTok; Mega Disney came under fire this week from conservative critics after a male employee donned a dress and makeup, RadarOnline.com has learned. The uproar first started when a Disneyland employee, identified …Read More »
  • Trump captured on tape acknowledging he kept a classified document on Iran -CNN

    Trump captured on tape acknowledging he kept a classified document on Iran -CNN

    Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors have a 2021 audio recording of former President Donald Trump acknowledging he kept a classified Pentagon document about a possible attack on Iran after leaving the White House, …Read More »
  • Amazon’s Ring used to spy on customers, FTC says in privacy settlement

    Amazon’s Ring used to spy on customers, FTC says in privacy settlement

    Published by Reuters By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former employee of Amazon.com’s Ring doorbell camera unit spied for months on female customers in 2017 with cameras placed in bedrooms and bathrooms, the Federal Trade Commission …Read More »
Previous Post: « Texas appeals order stopping it from investigating parents of transgender teen
Next Post: Putin says Western sanctions are akin to declaration of war »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • onePULSE Foundation says it’s time to shrink down plans for Pulse museum and memorial

    onePULSE Foundation says it’s time to shrink down plans for Pulse museum and memorial

  • Raven-Symoné Admits She Makes All Her Dates Sign NDAs ‘Before the Naughty Time Comes’

    Raven-Symoné Admits She Makes All Her Dates Sign NDAs ‘Before the Naughty Time Comes’

  • Gun-worshiping pastor starts releasing MAGA rap videos under name ‘King Bullethead’

    Gun-worshiping pastor starts releasing MAGA rap videos under name ‘King Bullethead’

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y'know

  • Neil Patrick Harris feels excited to turn 50

    Neil Patrick Harris feels excited to turn 50

  • Ben Platt engaged to fiancé Noah Galvin – again!

    Ben Platt engaged to fiancé Noah Galvin – again!

  • Chick-fil-A on the Chopping Block: Conservatives Call for Boycott Over Fast Food Restaurant’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy

    Chick-fil-A on the Chopping Block: Conservatives Call for Boycott Over Fast Food Restaurant’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy

Partner Links

  • Kroy Biermann Allegedly Locked Kim Zolciak Out Of Her Online Business, And The Police Were Called To Their Home Twice Last Month
  • Is There a 'Spider-Man 2: Across the Spider-Verse' End Credits Scene? Details Revealed
  • Jenna Ortega’s Mom Posted About The Dangers Of Smoking After Pictures Of Jenna Puffing On A Cigarette Went Viral
  • Wanda Sykes has LGBTQ+ Pride kickoff message: “The best thing you can do today is get educated”
  • Meme Spirited

Most Recent

  • New Yorkers gather to watch ‘Manhattanhenge’

    New Yorkers gather to watch ‘Manhattanhenge’

  • Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows

    Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows

  • ‘This is Disgusting and Wrong’: Disney Blasted by Conservative Critics After Male Disneyland Employee Dons Dress and Makeup

    ‘This is Disgusting and Wrong’: Disney Blasted by Conservative Critics After Male Disneyland Employee Dons Dress and Makeup

  • Trump captured on tape acknowledging he kept a classified document on Iran -CNN

    Trump captured on tape acknowledging he kept a classified document on Iran -CNN

  • Amazon’s Ring used to spy on customers, FTC says in privacy settlement

    Amazon’s Ring used to spy on customers, FTC says in privacy settlement

  • Queer Eye Star Tan France Welcomes Second Child with Husband Rob France

    Queer Eye Star Tan France Welcomes Second Child with Husband Rob France

  • Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon starts her day with spliff and cup of tea

    Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon starts her day with spliff and cup of tea

  • How Margaret Cho walks the line between comedy and outrage

    How Margaret Cho walks the line between comedy and outrage

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

×