Russia’s communications agency, Roskomnadzor, has declared that it will also block Instagram, just a week after banning Facebook. While the government previously blamed the ban on Facebook on “discrimination against Russian media,” this time it claims it’s due to a decision by parent company Meta instructing moderators to allow posts calling for violence against Russian soldiers if they come from specific countries, including Ukraine.
“This decision will shut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the globe,” Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri stated in a tweet. “80 percent of people in Russia follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is incorrect.”
Google translated from Russian, the agency’s statement says the following:
As you know, on March 11, Meta Platforms Inc. made an unprecedented decision by allowing the posting of information containing calls for violence against Russian citizens on its social networks Facebook and Instagram.
Messages are circulating on the Instagram social network encouraging and provoking violent acts against Russians, in connection with which the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office demanded that Roskomnadzor restrict access to this social network.
Since it will take time for active Instagram users to transfer their photo and video materials to other social networks and notify their contacts and subscribers, Roskomnadzor decided to complete the procedure for imposing restrictions on access to Instagram at 00:00 on March 14, providing users with an additional 48 hours of transition period.
The announcement of the ban comes just days after Meta announced plans for Instagram to label state media outlets and that it is “hiding information about people’s followers, who they’re following, and people who are following each other for private accounts based in these two countries” in Russia and Ukraine.
The ban will not take effect until March 14th, according to Russian state-run news outlet RIA Novosti, and it will not apply to WhatsApp, which is also owned by Meta.
