Facebook, Instagram and Twitter limit ads over Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Shannon Bond

February 26, 2022 / 7:15 am

caption: Meta, Facebook's parent company, says the decision to bar Russian state media from making money on its platform comes in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Facebook is blocking Russian state media from running ads on its platform anywhere in the world. The move comes after Russia said it would limit access to the giant social network in the country.

Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Facebook, tweeted: "We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world."

Updated February 26, 2022 at 12:37 PM ET

Twitter, which banned advertising from state-controlled media in 2019, said on Friday that it was temporarily pausing all ads in Ukraine and Russia "to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don't detract from it."

On Saturday, Twitter said that it was "being restricted for some people in Russia" that it was "working to keep our service safe and accessible."

Meta, Facebook's parent company, says the decision to bar Russian state media from making money on that platform as well as on Instagram comes in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The social network says it's also continuing to label state-owned media accounts.

On Friday, Nick Clegg, Meta's vice president of global affairs, said Russian authorities had ordered the company to stop labeling and fact-checking posts from four Russian state-owned media organizations.

"We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services," Clegg said. "Ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organize for action. We want them to continue to make their voices heard, share what's happening, and organize through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger."

Russian regulator accuses Facebook of censoring its state news outlets

His statement came after Russia's communications regulator accused Facebook of censoring the official accounts of Zvezda, a TV channel run by the Russian defense ministry, the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency, and two news sites, Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru.

It's not clear what the Kremlin's restrictions on the world's largest social network will entail or if they will also apply to Meta's other apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp. While Facebook does not disclose how many users it has in Russia, last year a poll found 9% of respondents said they used the social network, and 31% said they used Instagram.

Tech companies are under pressure to limit the spread of misleading information and propaganda about the conflict.

Meta has created a special operations center to monitor the conflict in Ukraine and remove content that breaks its rules. Twitter says it's "proactively reviewing" tweets to detect manipulation, identify false and misleading information and protect high-profile accounts of journalists, activists, and government officials and agencies. Both companies have also posted tips for users to protect their accounts against hacking and secure their privacy.

At the same time, social media companies have been targeted in a growing effort by the Kremlin to tighten its grip on communication and stifle dissent.

Last year, Russia throttled access to Twitter after the company allegedly ignored requests to take down some posts and threatened similar action against Facebook and Google. In December, a Russian court fined Meta 2 billion rubles, or about $27 million, for failing to remove content that Russia says violates its laws.