Amidst the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Instagram has been blocked in Russia. Prior to the shut down on the midnight of Sunday, 13 March, users of the social media platform were notified about the same by the state communications regulator, reported Reuters.
The development comes after Instagram's owner Meta Platforms said that it would temporarily permit Ukrainians and users from some countries to 'call for violence' against Russian soldiers.
Meta also owns Facebook and WhatsApp.
In a email message, the state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, had also asked users to move their photos and videos from Instagram before the service stops and urged them to use "competitive internet platforms" owned by Russia.
"The decision to allow calls of violence against Russians is a breach of International law," the message to Russia's Instagram users further stated.
Explaining the decision, the message noted, "We need to ensure the psychological health of citizens, especially children and adolescents, to protect them from harassments and insults, online," reported Reuters.
The decision has reportedly received immense backlash from citizens in Russia. Meanwhile, the country has begun a criminal investigation against Meta. Its prosecutors had on Friday also asked the court to label the US technology giant as an "extremist organisation."
Background
Instagram owner Meta had earlier said that it would allow its users in some countries to call for violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as the Russian soldiers invading Ukraine.
Following this, Russia's state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement, "On the basis of a demand by the general prosecutor's office, access to Instagram will be limited on the territory of the Russian Federation."
Instagram's top executive, Adam Mosseri, called it "wrong" to cut off 80 million users in the country.
"This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as 80 per cent of people in Russia follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is wrong," Mosseri said, in a tweet.
Roskomnadzor recently blocked access to Facebook, citing 26 cases of "discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook" since October 2020.
Earlier, the Russian introduced a new law that would punish anyone spreading "fake news" about the country with upto 15 years of imprisonment.
(With inputs from Reuters.)
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