Russia censors access to Instagram nationwide, citing company’s new violence-against-Russians policy

The Russian government this week announced that it would be censoring access to social media platform Instagram nationwide over the site’s policy regarding calls for violence against Russians. 

Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta announced earlier this week that it was temporarily altering its violent content policy rule to allow users to post calls for violence against Russian citizens and Russian military in the context of that country’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Federal censorship agency Roskomnadzor wrote online on Friday that “based on the requirement of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, access to the social network Instagram…on the territory of the Russian Federation will be limited.

“The social network Instagram distributes information materials containing calls for violent actions against citizens of the Russian Federation, including military personnel,” Roskomnzadzor wrote. 

 The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has meanwhile called for a criminal investigation into Meta on the grounds of the country’s extremism and propaganda laws.