Russia media regulator moves to partially restrict Facebook access

Russia’s media regulator stated Friday it might transfer to “partially prohibit entry” to Fb after it stated the platform had restricted official accounts of 4 Russian media shops, in response to an announcement translated from Russian to English.

The regulator, Roskomnadzor, claimed Fb had “restricted the official accounts” of 4 Russian media shops which can be state-owned or state-affiliated: Zvezda TV channel, RIA Novosti information company, Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru.

Roskomnadzor stated Fb’s actions violated federal regulation and that its proprietor, Meta, ignored a request from the company to take away the restrictions.

The company added that it “has recorded 23 instances of such censorship of Russian media and web sources by Fb” since October 2020.

Roskomnadzor stated its actions adopted an settlement by the Prosecutor Common’s Workplace and Ministry of International Affairs “to acknowledge the social community Fb as concerned within the violation of elementary human rights and freedoms, in addition to the rights and freedoms of Russian residents.”

It was not instantly clear what the restrictions would entail. A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C., didn’t instantly reply to a request for extra particulars.

In an announcement posted to Twitter, Meta VP of International Affairs Nick Clegg stated that Russian authorities had ordered the corporate on Thursday to cease fact-checking and labelling content material on Fb posted by the state-owned media shops. When Meta refused, Russia introduced the restrictions of its service.

Clegg stated Meta hopes for Russian folks to proceed to have the ability “to make their voices heard, share what’s occurring, and manage by means of Fb, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.”

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