It is now official. Russia has listed the American giant Meta, parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, among organizations “terrorists and extremists” of the Russian financial monitoring service, noted AFP, Tuesday, October 11, on the website of this government body. What open the possibility of enhanced legal proceedings against its users in the country.
On the Telegram messaging service, still authorized in the country, the renowned lawyer Pavel Tchikov specified on Tuesday that proceedings could be initiated in several cases: if a person publicly mentions Meta without indicating its status as a prohibited organization, or if it shows the logo of the company and its subsidiaries.
Moreover, according to this lawyer, Russian companies that use Meta’s social networks to distribute advertisements, or work with these applications, could also be accused of participating in an organization “extremist”.
Exacerbated repression of critics of the conflict in Ukraine
In March, a Russian court had already banned Meta for “extremism”a few days after the blocking in Russia of Instagram and Facebook, since inaccessible in the country without a virtual private network (VPN), like Twitter and a large number of media sites critical of power.
Since the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the Russian authorities have been carrying out an exacerbated repression of critics of the conflict, with thousands of fines and dozens of criminal cases punishable by heavy prison sentences. Prior to its ban, millions of Russians used Meta’s apps, especially Instagram, a network that remains popular with young people in the country despite being blocked.
Meta also owns WhatsApp messaging, which is also very popular in Russia. In March, however, the Russian courts did not order the blocking of this application, having considered that it was not used as a means of “public dissemination of information”.