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Russia makes good on its threat. The Kremlin has announced its decision to restrict access to the social network Instagram, which he accuses of inciting violence against the state due to the conflict in Ukraine. “Following the request of the Prosecutor General’s office, access to the Instagram social network … is restricted in Russia,” Russian telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor said in a statement.
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The measure comes just a few hours after Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, shared that it had made the decision to relax its policies and allow users from a dozen countries, more or less directly related to the conflict, making death threats against Russian troops.
It is also possible to use the platforms to directly threaten Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko.
Once the Meta changes were made public, Rusia announced that it would initiate legal action against the technology company. The country’s Investigative Committee indicated that it began its investigations “before the illegal calls for the murder of Russians by collaborators of the American Meta society,” reports AFP. The High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed his concern on Friday at Meta’s announcement to make exceptions to its rules regarding messages hostile to the Russian military and government.
The closure of Instagram in Russia comes just a week after the Roskomnadzor decided to block Facebook and Twitter in the country. In this case, an attempt was made to justify the measure by referring to the actions that the two platforms had carried out against the accounts of Russian state media, such as ‘Russia Today’ and ‘Sputnik’.
Instagram is very popular among Russian youth and it is also a crucial online sales tool for small and medium-sized Russian firms, as well as artists and creators. Unlike Facebook, which has a residual use in the country, the photographic ‘app’ is the third favorite social platform of citizens. In Russia it is used by 59% of users. Only the local VK and YouTube have more fans.