US tech companies have managed to stay neutral since Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday. Unlike several organizations following the trend of US-led sanctions on Russia by severing ties with either businesses from Russia or the Russian government itself, the Big Tech, especially social media platforms have shown little or no sign of taking a side.
But the story is beginning to change as the conflict escalates. In times of war, governments aim to push media propaganda using state-run media outlets and other platforms they could bend. Social media companies wield enormous global media influence that put them on the spotlight – and they may be forced to either allow government propaganda or get the boot. Facebook has begun to receive that treatment.
Russia said Friday that it would partially limit access to Facebook within its borders over what it alleges is censorship of four state news outlets.
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In its announcement, the country’s communications regulator said it asked Facebook earlier in the week to remove the restrictions and explain its reasoning for them but did not hear back. It also accused the company of various other undetailed human rights and freedoms abuses.
Per Insider, Facebook said it had refused requests to stop fact-checking posts from certain outlets.
“Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labelling of content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs and communications, tweeted on Thursday.
https://twitter.com/nickclegg/status/1497279120853590025?t=zN1z9FPJI_u5lzYCgzZ78w&s=19
It’s not clear if the planned restriction will impact other apps in Meta’s portfolio, like WhatsApp or Instagram.
Ukraine has been under serious unprovoked attack by Russia, as President Vladimir Putin flexes its military muscle to enforce his political will. Ukraine has picked up arms to fend off the heightened aggression which is expected to advance to more cities in the country in coming days.
The conflict, which brewed a lot of tension in the past weeks, became a full-scale war on Thursday after Putin recognized the independence of two breakaway regions of Ukraine – Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin said he moved into Ukraine to stop unproved genocide against the separatists.
More than 137 Ukrainians were dead as of early Friday morning, and one official said Friday would be the “hardest day.” The Ukrainian government claimed over 2,000 Russian troops have been killed.
Against this backdrop, the desire to control the narrative is forcing Russia to take aim at social media. According to Politico, a handful of Russia-backed media outlets have posted stories on Facebook and Twitter containing false claims that Ukrainian military forces were the ones who launched unprovoked assaults on Russian-allied troops.
Social media companies have been under intense scrutiny over what they allowed to be in their platforms, especially in times of crisis. Google’s YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and others have been pressured to pour more resources into handling false information related to the pandemic, the 2020 presidential election, and political disinformation more broadly.