Russia has opened criminal proceedings against Facebook parent company. Meta PlatformsIt was moved Friday to be designated as an “extremist group” following a change in hate speech guidelines by Facebook to allow users to use the platform to urge violence against Russians within the context of war with Ukraine.

Russia’s Investigative committee stated, “A criminal case was opened… in connection to illegal calls for murder or violence against Russian Federation citizens by employees of American company Meta,” Russia’s Investigative Commission said.

It reports directly to Vladimir Putin. At the moment, it was unclear what might happen to the criminal case.

Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters inquiry.

A Meta spokesperson stated that two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, the company temporarily relaxed its rules on political speech. This allowed posts like “death of the Russian invaders” but not violence towards Russian civilians.

Meta claimed that temporary modifications were being made in order to make it possible for political expressions that are not allowed under its guidelines. On Friday, its oversight board announced that they were closely watching the conflict in Ukraine. It also stated how Meta was responding.

Information War

Russia has struggled for the past year to control U.S. tech giants like Alphabet Inc.s Google, and Twitter. It repeatedly fined them for publishing illegal content.

However, the invading of Ukraine has prompted a torrent of international condemnation as well as unprecedented sanctions to raise the stakes for the information war.

There is a space on social media for people to voice their opinions against Putin’s line. This was the reason that Moscow had to start its “special army operation” in Ukraine to protect Russian-speakers from genocide, and demilitarise the country.

The Investigative Committee stated that the actions of Facebook may be in violation articles of Russian criminal law, which prohibits public requests for extremist activity.

According to the office of the State Prosecutor, “Such actions by the management of (Meta), not only give the impression that terrorist activities are permissible but also incite hatred and hostility towards Russian Federation citizens.”

The court was asked to declare Meta an extremist group and to prohibit it from operating in Russia.

Reuters discovered that internal Meta emails showed that posts calling for President Putin’s death were temporarily permitted by the U.S.

Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson said that “we hope it’s not true” because it would mean that the company will need to take the strongest possible measures to stop its activities.

A UN human rights officer stated that the possibility of Facebook changing its policy was concerning.

Meta is the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. All three are very popular in Russia.

Russia declared last week it will ban Facebook in Russia in protest at what it called restrictions to Russian media access on the platform. In a statement, the prosecution’s office stated that the state communications regulator will also be restricting access to Instagram.

Alexei Navalny a prisoner of Putin, used Instagram in an email message posted by his lawyer and supporters Friday asking for Russians’ participation in the protests against Ukraine and “mad madmaniac Putin”.

Russia’s RIA news agency stated that WhatsApp would not be affected by these legal steps. According to a source, the source claimed WhatsApp was considered a medium of communication and not a platform for posting information.