JUST IN: Russia Blocks Access to Facebook


https://www.mediaite.com/news/just-in-russia-blocks-access-to-facebook/

Russia has blocked access to Facebook, reported The New York Times on Friday.

“The Russian government has blocked access to Facebook inside the country, claiming the network has engaged in ‘discrimination against Russian news media,’” reported NYT Moscow bureau chief Anton Troianovski. “It’s the latest instance of the Kremlin’s far-reaching campaign to clamp down on dissent in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.”

Russia has already blocked access to numerous websites and outlets including Twitter, the BBC, Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle. It has also shut down the few remaining Kremlin-critical outlets Dozhd (or TV Rain) and radio station Echo Moskvy.

In a statement, the State Department condemned what it called Russia’s “full assault on media freedom and the truth.”

Throughout the conflict, Facebook has censored Russian disinformation through incremental steps that have included “fight[ing] the spread of misinformation and implementing more transparency and restrictions around state-controlled media outlets.”

The State Department has also slammed Russia over its censorship of social media websites, accusing it of “throttling Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram platforms that tens of millions of Russia’s citizens rely on to access independent information and opinions and to connect with each other and the outside world.”


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