Meta is treading a very fine legal and moral line

American social media companies are walking a fine line in Eastern Europe at the moment. They are under pressure to join the ever-expanding commercial boycott of Russia, but pretty much everything they do has all the characteristics of a double-edged sword.

Russia is to close down Instagram service in the country, supposedly in response to what it calls "restrictions of access" to Russian media, but in reality to silence vocal opposition to Putin's war in Ukraine. Meta-owned Instagram is the medium of choice of jailed Putin opponent Alexey Navalny and many others who oppose Putin's regime and methods. Russia has already shut down Meta-owned Facebook in the country. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, is not affected by these legal moves, as it is considered a means of communication, rather than a way to publicly post information. Other social media outlets are still functioning in Russia, including Telegram and Kontakte.

But Meta has really put the cat among the pigeons by saying that they will allow, "temporarily", social media posts on its platforms that call for "Death to the Russian invaders", for example. Not "Death to Putin" or "Death to any other individual", they explain, but "Death to the Russian invaders" would be OK. (Internal Meta emails, however, show that they had allowed "Death to Putin" and "Death to Lukashenko", at least for a while.) 

Now, this is clearly against normal Facebook and Instagram rules, but Meta argues that Ukrainians need to be able to express "their resistance and fury at the invading military forces". Russia is of course outraged at this clear example of Western double standards, and they have opened a criminal case against Meta, which they are now branding an "extremist organization". And, however much you might hate Russia and what Putin is doing right now, you can see that they probably have a point (and a case).

In the meantime, Russia is going ahead and shutting down Instagram, and many a Russian internet influencer will be out of a job. On the bright side, Facebook and Instagram are huge sources of right-wing disinformation, in Russia as everywhere else.