(Reuters) – A Moscow court has classified Meta Platforms, parent company of Instagram and Facebook, as an “extremist organisation”, but said the ruling would not apply to its WhatsApp messaging service.
The Tverskoi District Court in Moscow has upheld a lawsuit filed by Russian state prosecutors regarding the banning of Meta’s activities on Russian territory, the court’s press service said in a statement.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Company lawyer Victoria Shagina told the court that Meta did not carry out extremist activities and opposed Russophobia, Interfax reported.
The implications of Meta’s classification as an “extremist organization”, a designation once reserved for groups such as the Taliban and the Islamic State, but later attributed to Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Alexei Anti-Corruption Foundation Navalny, a Kremlin critic in prison, remains unclear.
Meta’s flagship platforms Facebook and Instagram are already banned in Russia and the court said WhatsApp would not be affected by the ruling.
“The ruling does not apply to Meta’s WhatsApp messaging activities, due to its lack of functionality for public dissemination of information,” the court said.
Russia banned Facebook for restricting access to Russian media, and blocked Instagram after Meta said it would let social media users in Ukraine post messages inciting violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and troops that Moscow sent to Ukraine on February 24.
Russia calls the conflict in Ukraine a “special military operation” aimed at disarming Ukraine and protecting it from people it describes as dangerous nationalists.
Meta then toughened his policy to banish calls for the murder of heads of state and said his guidelines should never be interpreted as an endorsement of violence against the Russian people in general.
But the perceived threat to Russian citizens has angered authorities and led to the initiation of criminal proceedings against the company.
(Reuters offices; French version Federica Mileo, editing by Jean-Michel Bélot)