Moscow: Russia has declared Meta, the main company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as extremist and terrorist. After that, threats of banning or temporarily shutting down Instagram and WhatsApp in the country are also looming.
Interestingly, an anti-war organization in Russia, Vesna, has also been declared a terrorist organization by Russia. However, earlier in March, Russia called META an extremist platform and blocked it, however META's reaction to this new decision has not yet come out.
In March, the Russian government said in its detailed statement that Meta is blocking Russian and international users from accessing Russian media, especially state-run news agencies Sputnik and Russia Today, which is a discriminatory measure. Subsequently, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office also declared META an extremist organization and this was confirmed by the state news agency Tass.
A Moscow court then rejected Meta's appeal in which he denied the charge of extremism. However, there are now fears that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp may be blocked in Russia.
