Kremlin threatens to ban Facebook, Instagram

The Kremlin on Friday threatened to ban Facebook and Instagram after its posts called for violence against Russia.

The Kremlin said that it's "necessary" to ban Facebook and Instagram if they allowed calls for violence against Russia, reported Sputnik.

Earlier in the day, Meta announced a concerning change in its company policy, giving a green light to calls for violence against Russian soldiers on its platforms in some countries amid Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.

"As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as 'death to the Russian invaders.' We still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement.

The Sputnik news agency reported the US media giant is going to allow posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in a number of countries, including Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.

This decision comes a few days after Russia blocked access to Facebook and other social media platforms, saying that it had discriminated against Russian media and information resources.

Media reports said that the Russian websites of BBC and Deutsche Welle, Twitter, and Apple and Google's app stores were all blocked.

"In March 2022, a decision was made to block access to the Facebook network (owned by Meta Platforms, Inc.) in the Russian Federation," the Russian media regulator statement had said.

Meta president Nick Clegg said the company was doing "everything we can to restore our services".

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, which it claimed was a response to calls from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk for protection against attacks by Ukrainian troops.