Technology

On Monday, 80 million Russians would lose access to Instagram

Published on March 13, 2022

The decision to ban Instagram in the country comes just one day after Facebook permitted posts calling for the death of Russian PM Vladimir Putin.

Russia is about to ban Instagram, and the country’s president, Adam Mosseri, is furious. The decision to ban Instagram in the country comes a day after Facebook allowed posts phoning for the assassination of Russian PM Vladimir Putin in countries. Such as Russia, Ukraine, and Poland, according to internal emails to content moderators.

“In Russia, Instagram will be blocked on Monday.” This decision will isolate 80 million Russians from one another and the rest of the world. As 80 percent follow an Instagram account outside of Russia. This is incorrect,” Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri stated on Twitter.

A Meta spokesperson lastly stated that the company had made temporary exceptions for forms of political expression that would usually violate Facebook’s hate speech guidelines, such as “death to the Russian invaders.”

The spokesperson, however, stated that it would not tolerate calls for violence against Russian civilians.

Following the publication of Meta’s new guidelines. Russia’s media regulator announce that access to Instagram would be restrict by Monday due to “calls to commit violent acts. Moscow has also taken steps to limit Twitter and other social media platforms, including Facebook.

“On March 11, Meta Platforms Inc. made an unprecedented decision by allowing information containing calls for violence. Against Russian citizens to be post on its social networks Facebook and Instagram. According to the Russian communication agency, “messages circulating on the Instagram social network encourage and provoke violent acts against Russians. As a result, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office requested that Roskomnadzor restrict access to this social network.”

Instagram will be unavailable in Russia beginning Monday, March 14, 2019. According to a Russian news agency, only Facebook and Instagram will be banned, but not WhatsApp.