Meta bans Russian media from running ads, monetising on platforms

New Delhi: Hit by partial restrictions, Meta (formerly Facebook) on Saturday said it is prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetising on its platform anywhere in the world.

The additional steps in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine came after the country began to "partially restrict" access to Facebook.

"We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetising on our platform anywhere in the world. We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media," said Nick Clegg, VP Global Affairs at Meta.

These changes have already begun rolling out and will continue into the weekend, he added.

"We are closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and will keep sharing steps we're taking to protect people on our platform," said Clegg.

Meta earlier criticised Russia's move to restrict Facebook in the country, saying that it reacted in response to either Facebook's fact-checking practices and its policy of labelling state-run media accounts.

The Russian government said on Friday that it will begin to "partially restrict" access to Facebook, after the social network put restrictions on four Russian state-linked media outlets -- the television network Zvezda, news agency RIA Novosti, and the websites Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru.

Russia's internet regulatory agency Roskomnadzor said that on February 24, Facebook social network (Meta Platforms) restricted the official accounts of four Russian media outlets.

"Roskomnadzor sent requests to the administration of Meta Platforms to remove the restrictions imposed by the social network on Russian media and explain the reason for their introduction. The owners of the social network ignored the requirements," the agency said in a statement.

Since October 2020, Roskomnadzor said it has recorded 23 cases of such censorship of Russian media and Internet resources by Facebook.

"In accordance with the decision of the Prosecutor General's Office regarding the social network Facebook, starting from February 25, Roskomnadzor, in accordance with the law, takes measures to partially restrict access in the form of slowing down traffic," the Russian agency mentioned.