Russia has added Facebook owner Meta to its list of extremist and terrorist organizations, Interfax reported on Tuesday.
Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s federal financial monitoring service, was behind the move, according to the report.
The decision means that all services provided by Meta, including WhatsApp and Instagram, are set to be cut off in the country and Russians would lose access to these platforms, Insider previously reported.
Vesna, the Russian anti-war movement, was also put on the list of organizations involved in terrorism and extremism on Tuesday, per Interfax.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
In March, Russia’s tech regulator blocked access to Facebook, accusing it of “discrimination” and saying the social-media platform had restricted user access to government-backed news outlets such as Sputnik and Russia Today.
Later in the month, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office requested for Meta to be labeled as an “extremist organization” under law, Russian state media outlet Tass reported.
According to a Reuters report citing several internal emails, Meta temporarily allowed posts that called for violence against Russian invaders from users in certain countries like Ukraine and Poland.
A court in Moscow then rejected Meta’s appeal after it was found guilty of “extremist activity” in Russia, Reuters reported, citing Tass.
