Russia has just banned Facebook

In an information war, featuring a series of censorships between Western nations and Russia, the latter has just banned ‘Facebook.’

Many tech platforms have already begun restricting services in Russia. Google-owned YouTube has blocked Russian news channels RT and Sputnik in Europe, for example, while Facebook has blocked RT and Sputnik in the EU and stopped recommending Russian state media globally. Apple has also halted product sales in the country.

Google Europe’s banning of Russian media outlets was announced in a Tweet on March 1st in which they said, “Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we’re blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately. It’ll take time for our systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action.”

Meta also banned Russian outlets such as RT and Sputnik on Instagram after requests from EU governments to do so. Tik Tok also banned the two channels off their platform.

This is just the latest example of internet platforms censoring Russian Media outlets in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Both fronts continue to censor information.

Meta spokesperson, Nick Clegg, confirmed the ban in a Tweet while simultaneously referring to Facebook as a means of reliable information, despite its past controversies with information mishandling and propagation, “Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out. We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action.”

After Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, more than 1 million Ukrainians have fled the country as a result of the invasion, according to a recent estimate by the United Nations’ refugee agency.

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