WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd March, 2022) The United States has condemned the decision by a Moscow court to designate Facebook and Instagram and their parent company Meta as "extremist" after the US media giant allowed users to target Russian politicians and military personnel amid the conflict in Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Ned price said in a statement.
"We condemn a Moscow court's decision to designate Meta, including Facebook and Instagram, as "extremist." This assault on access to information must stop," Price said via Twitter on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, the Tverskoy district court of Moscow ruled to ban Facebook and Instagram in Russian for extremism. The court said that the decision will be enforced immediately. At the same time, it was specified that the ban on Meta's activities will not apply to the WhatsApp messenger.
Last week, a Moscow district court told Sputnik that it had received a statement from the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia on the recognition of Meta as an extremist organization in the wake of the company allowing publication of calls for violence against the Russian military on its social media platforms amid the military operation in Ukraine.
