Following its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government has cracked down on international media outlets and social media platforms for sharing the country’s actions with its own citizens. And last week, after introducing partial restrictions on Facebook, Russia announced this week that it will begin blocking the platform entirely.

To justify its decision, Russian censors cited “26 cases of discrimination against Russian media and information resources” after Facebook began limiting the spread of Russian state-owned media. As a result, Facebook’s parent company Meta expressed concern that Russian citizens will soon find themselves in a media environment without accurate information.

“Millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out,” Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg said. “We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action.”

Of course, there’s very little Facebook can do if an entire country decides to shut it out. Still, for as often as the social media giant is accused of censorship, this is an alarming example of what the real thing looks like.

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