Meta is being investigated by Russia for making murder threats on Facebook.

 

After the social network modified its hate speech policies to allow users to urge for violence against Russians in the context of the war with Ukraine, Russia initiated a criminal lawsuit against Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms and tried to designate it as a "extremist organization" on Friday.

"A criminal case has been opened... in connection with illegal calls for murder and violence against Russian Federation residents by employees of the American firm Meta, which owns the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram," Russia's Investigative Committee said.

President Vladimir Putin receives direct updates from the committee. The legal ramifications of the criminal case were not immediately obvious.

In response to a request from Reuters, Meta had no immediate comment.

A Meta representative claimed on Thursday that, two weeks into Russia's war in Ukraine, the firm had temporarily relaxed its restrictions for political expression, allowing messages like "death to the Russian invaders," but not demands for murder against Russian civilians.

The temporary modification, according to Meta, was made to allow for kinds of political speech that would typically be prohibited. On Friday, its supervisory board stated that it was closely monitoring the war in Ukraine and Meta's response.

War of information

Russia has been attempting for more than a year to limit the impact of U.S. tech companies such as Alphabet Inc's Google and Twitter, fining them repeatedly for allowing what it considers to be unlawful content.

However, the invasion of Ukraine, which was met with widespread international criticism and harsh sanctions, has increased the stakes in the information battle dramatically.

Putin's argument - faithfully repeated by the tightly controlled state media - that Moscow was forced to initiate its "special military operation" to save Russian-speakers in Ukraine against genocide and to demilitarize and "denazify" the country provides an opportunity for opposition.

According to the Investigative Committee, Facebook's action may breach sections of Russian penal legislation prohibiting public incitement for terrorist actions.

"Such activities by the (Meta) company's management not only incite hatred and animosity against Russian Federation people, but also shape the impression that terrorist behavior is lawful," the state prosecutor's office said.

It said it has applied to a court to have Meta designated as an extremist group and its operations in Russia prohibited.

Internal Meta emails obtained by Reuters revealed that the US corporation had temporarily permitted messages calling for Putin's or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's murder.

"We hope that isn't true," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, "because if it is, it will imply that the most dramatic actions will have to be taken to put an end to this company's activities."

The proposed change in Facebook policy is "concerning," according to the UN human rights office.

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are all popular in Russia, and Meta owns them all.

Russia announced last week that it will ban Facebook in the nation due to what it claimed were limits on access to Russian media on the platform. According to the prosecutor's office, access to Instagram will now be restricted by the state communications regulator.

Instagram is a favored tool of jailed Putin opponent Alexei Navalny, who used it in a message posted via his lawyers and supporters on Friday to call for Russians to join protests against the Ukraine war and “mad maniac Putin” this weekend.

WhatsApp will not be affected by the legal moves, Russia’s RIA news agency cited a source as saying, as the messaging app is considered a means of communication not a way to post information.