Russia has banned millions of citizens from using Instagram after the social media platform’s parent company decided it would allow posts referring to violence against Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Facebook and Instagram — which are both owned by Meta — have altered their guidelines to allow users in certain countries to post content that’s typically forbidden, such as hate speech and calls for the death of Russian soldiers or politicians, according to The Verge.
Russia banned Facebook last week, claiming it allowed “discrimination against Russian media,” The Verge reported.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri tweeted last week that Russia’s decision to ban the social media platform would “cut 80 million in Russia off from one another” and “the rest of the world.”
The Russian parliament has also blocked access to Twitter for its citizens.
A slew of corporations have pulled their services from Russia. Social media app TikTok banned all livestreaming and content creation in Russia due to President Vladimir Putin’s new law that criminalizes anything he deems to be “fake news” as Russia continues its violent invasion of Ukraine.
“In light of Russia’s new ‘fake news’ law, we have no choice but to suspend live-streaming and new content to our video service while we review the safety implications of this law,” TikTok said last week in a statement.