Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications ”“ Roskomnadzor has announced that it blocked Facebook in the Russian Federation, a big downfall for Apple’s rival Meta and its social media platform.
On Friday, the Russian media watchdog said that the government has blocked the social media platform as it cited 26 cases of “discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook” since October 2020, not to mention the Meta sanctions against Russia.
However, this action can be mainly attributed to the ongoing military invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which caused international backlash and made the U.S., Canada, Europe, and others impose sanctions on the Russian government, state media, and more.
In late February, Meta (Facebook) banned Russian state media from running ads globally and making monetization efforts from anywhere in the world.
There are also new security features made available to the invaded country Ukraine which the company says “adds an extra layer of protection and locks users’ profiles.” All these actions led to the Russian government’s decision to ban the platform.
Meanwhile, Apple has joined the economic sanctions against Russia by removing support of Apple Pay, stopping sales of iPhones, iPads, Macs, AirPods, as well as banning RT News and Sputnik News from App Stores outside of the country.
