The Russian government said it would limit access to the photo-sharing website. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the state has restricted mainstream foreign tech platforms.
Russia is blaming a hate speech policy change by Meta for the ban on the photo sharing website.
The move comes as Putin continues to tighten his grip on the digital information sphere to try to prevent Russians from circumventing state propaganda and accessing uncensored information on the war.
The Russian government said in a statement that it will restrict access to the photo sharing site, which is owned by Meta.
“Based on the requirement of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, access to the Instagram social network (owned by Meta Platforms, Inc.) in the Russian Federation will be limited.
“The Instagram social network distributes informational materials containing calls to commit violent acts against citizens of the Russian Federation, including military personnel.”
At the time of writing, a source inside Russia said that the app is still accessible for them, but that it takes a couple of days for all mobile operators and internet providers to block it.
Russia already has restrictions on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, but it has not named popular photo sharing website,Instagram, as a target.
Russia has around 60 million users of the photo-sharing app.
Facebook restricted access to a number of state-affiliated media outlets in Russia on February 25.
The company later confirmed reports of difficulties for Russia users to access the service, saying it was working to restore full access.
The dedicated onion service provides a way for anyone to access the network without being blocked by the state. Facebook has had a service.
Twitter launches Tor service allowing users in Russia to bypass internet blocks
Meta has faced some criticism on human rights grounds after changing its policy.
According to the news agency, Meta has temporarily allowed users in some countries to call for violence against Russians in light of the Ukraine war, suspending its standard hate speech rules.
As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules, such as death to the Russian invaders.
Unless the threats also targeted others and/or contained additional indicators of credibility, they would be allowed to be made against Russia president Vladimir Putin or Alexander Lukashenko, according to internal emails reviewed by the news agency.
According to the statement announcing the restrictions, the policy change allows r esidents, who the Russian government identifies by name, as Andy Stone.
It's not clear if the messaging app will face the same restrictions.
It was not possible to comment. Some reports suggest that it is being treated differently by the Russian authorities because it is not a public-facing social network.
The Russian government announced today that a state investigative committee has opened a criminal case against Meta and Meta employees in Russia.
Russia's investigative committee wrote today that these actions contain signs of crimes under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
As part of the criminal case, the necessary investigative measures are being carried out to give a legal evaluation to the actions of Andy Stone and other employees of the American corporation.
Russia has a long history of having anti-terror laws that can be used to encourage self-censorship.
The maximum punishment for Extremism was increased in a 2016 update, the Guardian reported at the time.
It now appears that Russia intends to bring a charge of Extremism against US-based Stone and possibly other unnamed Meta employees.
The Meta staff who are located in Russia face the greatest risk of arrest and detention, as it is obvious that the risks are attached to centralized policy decisions being applied, top down, by major global platforms.
The latest developments were brought up by the people.
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