Facebook on Friday became the first US tech giant to be blocked by the Russian government, as part of the Kremlin’s broadening campaign to strengthen control over the internet and limit space for dissent over the war in Ukraine.
The move could herald further restrictions on other tech companies such as Google, which owns YouTube, and Twitter. Both are also under pressure from the Russian government.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s internet regulator, said in a statement that Facebook would be blocked for what it said 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media. It also cited Facebook’s steps to restrict Russian media including Zvezda, RIA Novosti, Sputnik, Russia Today, Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru.
Instagram and WhatsApp, which are also owned by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, are not affected, the company said. Both are more popular in Russia than Facebook’s main blue app.
The move is part of Russia’s actions by President Vladimir V. Putin to crack down on dissidents over the war in Ukraine. On Friday, the government passed a law making it illegal to spread what it called “false information” about Russia’s armed forces, which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years. The law goes into effect on Saturday and can be criminalized simply by calling the war a “war” — the Kremlin says it is a “special military operation” — on social media or in a news article or broadcast. Many of the few remaining independent news outlets in Russia have been shut down pending the law.
In a statement, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said Russia’s blockade of the social network would harm the country’s citizens.
“Soon, millions of ordinary Russians will be cut off from reliable information, deprived of their day-to-day ways of connecting with family and friends, and silenced,” he said, adding that Meta would work to expand Facebook’s services in the country. to recover.
Later on Friday, Facebook announced it would suspend its ad systems’ ability to target users in Russia. Advertisers in Russia will also no longer be able to create or run Facebook ads anywhere in the world, including in the country, the company said.
Russia has built up a massive censorship infrastructure in recent years that allows it to block or slow down access to certain websites. It has used the system to slow down access to Twitter. In the past, authorities have also ordered Internet service providers across Russia to carry out their sentences.
Facebook has no employees in Russia and is not hugely popular with the general public. But it was a place where people could criticize the government and find information outside the state media.
An even bigger target for the Russian government would be YouTube, which is hugely popular in the country as a source of entertainment and news. Many analysts have questioned whether Mr Putin would go ahead with a YouTube ban because it would be politically unpopular. With Facebook, at least, the calculus seems to have changed.
