By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 25th, 2024
In addition to restricting certain accounts, Facebook is also blocking media houses in Russia from running ads.
The war between Russia and Ukraine keeps getting more disturbing now, and it has triggered actions by social media companies, including the Facebook parent company Meta Platform Inc (NASDAQ: FB). Ahead of social media firms, the crypto community has also reacted by stretching helping hands to Ukraine. Last week, all Ukrainian FTX users received $25 each, courtesy of CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Also, Wu Blockchain said he was sourcing funds to support affected Ukrainians to move to a safe location.
As the war tensions linger on, Meta Platforms said Russia ordered that the company stop fact-checking Facebook content by its media organizations. According to Meta, Russia requested that the social media company stops labeling consent uploaded by four state-owned Russian media organizations. Meanwhile, Facebook has been carefully preventing broadcasting wrong information on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, Russia considers the act as censorship and tagged it illegal. In reaction, the authorities limited Facebook access across the country. The head of global affairs and communications at Meta, Nick Clegg, explained:
“Ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organize for action. We want them to continue to make their voices heard.”
Facebook and Other Social Media Companies Restrict Access to State Media Accounts in Russia
Currently, Meta has put restrictions on specific Facebook accounts in Ukraine. This is a response to Ukraine’s order to limit access to some accounts belonging to Russian state media organizations. On the 27th of February, Clegg revealed that the Ukrainians also suggested the restriction of access to Instagram in Russia. However, the executive pointed out that people in Russia use Facebook and Instagram to protest against the war. According to Clegg, the social media platforms serve as “a source of independent information” to Russian residents. He added:
“The Russian Government is already throttling our platform to prevent these activities. We believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time.”
In addition to restricting certain accounts, Facebook is also blocking media houses in Russia from running ads. The head of security policy at Facebook, Nathaniel Gleicher, revealed the development in a tweet. Gleicher said:
“We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world.”
The same goes for Google LLC (NASDAQ: GOOGL), which stopped ads by Russian state media on YouTube. During the weekend, a YouTube spokesperson said the online video platform is limiting recommendations to Russian state-media channels. At the same time, Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) said it is suspending all advertising in Ukraine and Russia.
“We’re temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it,” explained Twitter.