On Monday, a court in Moscow rejected a bid by Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook, to have extremism charges against it dismissed in a case that could see the US social media giant forced out of the Russian market.
According to Russian news agency TASS, Meta had requested more time to prepare for its legal position and called into question the court’s authority to ban its activities. Meta’s lawyer, Victoria Shagina, said that the company was not carrying out extremist activities and was against “Russophobia.”
In a statement last week, Meta global affairs President Nick Clegg said, "We are now narrowing the focus to make it explicitly clear in the guidance that it is never to be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general.”
Russia, however, has already banned Facebook for restricting access to Russian media while Instagram was blocked after Meta said Ukrainian social media users were permitted to post messages encouraging violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin after he launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine on February 24. President Putin, however, calls the war in Ukraine a “special military operation” and says the use of force in the country is “justified”.
Prosecutors in Russia now want to label Meta an “extremist organisation”.
