As the situation is getting worse on ground when it comes to Russian-Ukrainian war, the tension keeps rising in the virtual world as the tech giants use their weapons against Russia, and the latter retaliates.
A week after blocking Facebook in the country, Russia has now restricted access to Instagram as well. In addition, the country's authorities launched a criminal probe against Facebook's parent company, Meta, intending to label it an "extremist organization" because of what it terms "illegal calls for the murder of Russian nationals" by the company's employees.
In launching their criminal probe, prosecutors also accused Instagram of serving as a platform for organizing "riots, accompanied by violence."
Commenting on the Russian government statements, Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, tweeted that blocking the app "will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world."
Russia's moves came after Meta announced that it would allow calls for violence against Russian soldiers—and for the death of Vladimir Putin—by users in the region.
