🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Russian authorities announced plans Friday to restrict access to Facebook within the country after accusing the company of restricting the accounts of four Russian state-owned media outlets.
The authorities said they sent a request to Facebook and parent company Meta to request that the "restrictions" be removed and have them explained, which Facebook rejected.
Russia and Facebook have had a contentious relationship for years, as have Russia and other American tech companies like Twitter and Google. Russia has repeatedly fined the companies for alleged failures to delete "illegal content" from their platforms, CNN Business reported.
Meta Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg said Russian authorities asked Facebook on Thursday to stop the independent fact-checking and labeling of misinformation that has become standard on the platform. Clegg said Meta refused, and the restriction of Facebook in Russia came in response on Friday.
"Ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organize for action," Clegg said. "We want them to continue to make their voices heard, share what's happening, and organize through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger."
Facebook policy states that content that is fact-checked by a third party and rated as "false, partly false or altered" is shown to fewer users, according to Reuters.
Earlier this week, Twitter and Facebook announced a variety of measures to ensure the safety of users who may be using the platforms in "conflict zones," as well as steps to combat misinformation and propaganda on the platforms.
A Twitter spokesperson told Newsweek on Thursday, "Twitter's top priority is keeping people safe, and we have long-standing efforts to improve the safety of our service.
"As we do around major global events, our safety and integrity teams are monitoring for potential risks associated with the conflict to protect the health of the service, including identifying and disrupting attempts to amplify false and misleading information and to advance the speed and scale of our enforcement," the spokesperson said.
Russian authorities said that by "restricting" the state-owned media pages, Facebook had become involved in "the violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, as well as the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens."
A Russian release said that since October 2020, authorities have identified at least 23 cases of Facebook's "censorship" of Russian media outlets. The outlets affected in this allegation were the "Zvezda TV channel, the RIA Novosti news agency, and the Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru Internet sites," the authorities said.
A May 2021 report from Facebook identified Russia as one of the biggest location sources of misinformation posts and accounts—especially regarding the 2016, 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections—along with Iran, China and the U.S. itself.
Update 2/25/22, 3:27 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.
About the writer
A 2020 graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Aaron has worked as an assigning editor ... Read more