Russia-Ukraine crisis: In an attempt to provide a sense safety to citizens of Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian occupation, Meta Platforms Inc has restricted some accounts in Ukraine, including some accounts belonging to Russian state media organizations, at the request of the Ukrainian government, the company’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg said in a tweet on Sunday.
Nick Clegg took to Twitter to share, “the Ukrainians have also suggested that we remove access to Facebook and Instagram in Russia. However, people in Russia are using FB and IG to protest and organize against the war and as a source of independent information.”
He said the Russian government was already throttling Meta’s platform to prevent these activities and that turning off its services would “silence important expression at a crucial time.”
Meta shared in a release, “we have been in contact with the government of Ukraine. At their request, we have restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media organizations. We are also reviewing other government requests to restrict Russian state controlled media.”
Meta further announced that they added several safety features in Ukraine, including the ability for people to lock their Facebook profile, removing the ability to view and search friends lists, and additional tools on Messenger. “We’re taking extensive steps to fight the spread of misinformation by expanding our third-party fact-checking capacity in Russian and Ukrainian. We’re also providing more transparency around state-controlled media outlets, prohibiting ads from Russian state media and demonetizing their accounts,” it said.
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