Facebook’s parent company Meta continued to strike back against Russian misinformation this week following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, limiting the global reach of Russian state-controlled media.

“​​We have received requests from a number of Governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media. Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access… at this time,” Meta president of global affairs tweeted.

Of course, this act will almost certainly be met with cries of censorship from Russia and its allies. It’s also a more drastic step than anything previously done by Facebook to rein in messaging from a hostile foreign government.

“It’s unprecedented in terms of doing that to an official state media outlet, at least to my knowledge,” former Facebook policy director Katie Harbath told The Verge. “There were takedowns of entities associated with things like The Epoch Times, but nothing state-run.”

As always, Facebook finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Either it does nothing and is criticized for allowing misinformation to spread, or it takes strong action like this and is accused of censorship. However, all things being considered, this is probably the right step to take for the social media giant to help protect users and provide accurate info around the world.

Recommended Resources

The Choice of Tech Experts Worldwide. Try 90 days free of Bitdefender and experience the highest level of digital safety.

Surf the web truly incognito. Try Bitdefender Premium VPN, the ultra-fast VPN that keeps your online identity and activities safe from hackers, ISPs and snoops.

System Mechanic 14 – Make your computer run like new. Winner of 200+ Editor’s Choice awards!