Less than a week after banning Facebook from Russia, Russian State Media Tass is reporting that the government is declaring the entirety of Meta; which includes Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and the Metaverse as an extremist organization.
Earlier in the week the Russian government ordered access to both Facebook and Twitter blocked within their borders citing discriminations against Russian users. The likely real cause, agreed upon by many experts, is that Russian banned the platforms after they could no longer use them to spread propaganda following a crackdown by Meta on false information regarding the war in Ukraine. At that time Facebook was reported to have 66 million users. A hole that large in the userbase was projected to cost Facebook up to $3.6 million a day [1].
Russian's Prosecutor General's Office made the announcement labeling Meta as an "extremist organization" while calling for an investigation into whether Meta broke laws on "terrorist propaganda" and "inciting hatred."
Tensions continue to grow between the Tech Industry and Russia. Not only did previous bans happen earlier but Reuters is reporting that META has created exemptions in its hate speech codes for calls of violence against Russians or pleas for the death of President Putin. [2]
Where the continued escalation leads us is anyone's guess. However, it is incontrovertible that Russia's actions will prevent its own citizens, at least in part, from accessing western news and information.