LONDON (Reuters) – Russia will end the activities on its territory of Meta Platforms, operator of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, if a Reuters report that the company allows users from certain countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers is proven, the Kremlin said on Friday.
“We don’t want to believe the information from Reuters – it’s just too hard to believe,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We hope that is not true, because if it is, it means that the most decisive measures will have to be taken to put an end to the activities of this company,” he added.
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed that the site had temporarily relaxed its rules on political speech, allowing posts such as “Death to Russian invaders” but not calls for violence against Russian civilians.
Internal emails seen by Reuters show the operator also temporarily allowed messages calling for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
(Report Guy Faulconbridge; French version Federica Mileo, edited by Sophie Louet)
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