Russian court bans Facebook and Instagram

A Moscow court on Monday banned Facebook and Instagram for what it deemed extremist activity in a case against Meta, the company which owns the services.

The court noted the government's allegations that Instagram had ignored its requests to remove what it described as fake news about the military operation in Ukraine and calls for protests in Russia.

Instagram and Facebook, which is also owned by Meta, were already blocked in Russia after the communications and media regulator Roskomnadzor said they were being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers.