(CelebrityAccess) — Russia has launched a criminal investigation against Facebook’s parent company, Meta over what it says are illegal calls for murder and violence against citizens of the Russian Federation on Facebook and Instagram.
The move follows a change to Facebook’s policies in anti-violence with Meta relaxing its rules for political expression during the invasion of Ukraine, which were first reported by Reuters.
“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders.’ We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” spokesman Andy Stone said on Wednesday.
According to the Russian Federation’s Investigative Committee, which reports to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the posts are violations under Articles 280 and 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Russian prosecutors have also requested that Meta be designated as an “extremist organization” and Russia’s communications regulator announced plans to restrict access to Instagram in the nation, Reuters reported.
It is unclear what impact the criminal investigation will have on the social media giant. Meta did not respond to a request for comment.
