Facebook has criticized Russia’s decision to ban its platform in the country.
Russia issued the ban after Meta, Facebook’s parent company restricted state-controlled news platforms and demoted their information. Meta also refused to stop fact-checking several Russian state media outlets.
“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. 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,” Facebook’s president for global affairs, Nick Clegg noted.
According to Russia’s communications regulator, the ban was a response to restrictions placed on its media by Meta.
The regulator stated that there had been 26 cases of “discrimination” against Russian media by Facebook since October 2020.
Before the ban, Facebook had previously been limited in the country along with platforms including Twitter.