Roskomnadzor, the Russian agency that regulates the state’s mass media, announced today that it will block access to Facebook in the country.
“Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out,” said Nick Clegg, Meta Platforms’ president of global affairs, in a statement on Friday. “We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action.”
CNBC reports that the agency had already partially restricted the social media platform last week for “censoring” state-run media. In Clegg’s words, “Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labeling of content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations.”
Facebook is not the only tech company to limit the spread of Russian state media in response to the aggressor’s disinformation campaign. The Verge reports that Alphabet-owned YouTube followed Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday in blocking Russian state news outlets RT and Sputnik in Europe. Apple has also taken action in limiting Russian state media on Apple News and the App Store, limiting Apple Pay features in the country and disability traffic data on Maps in Ukraine, per Engadget.
Reuters reports that Russia’s legislature passed a law earlier on Friday to attempt to curb “fake news” in the nation amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The new amendments to the state’s criminal code penalize the distribution of what is deemed “fake” information, with fines and up to 15 years of jail time. The move has prompted the BBC to suspend its work within the state.