Russia blocked the pages of the Euronews television network

Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, reported Monday that it has blocked the pages of the European television channel Euronews for allegedly “misinforming” about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

As reported by the TASS news agency, the decision of the General Prosecutor’s Office also affects the Russian-language offer of the European channel, as announced by the Roskomnadzor media authority.

Moscow introduced a new media law in early March that imposes drastic sanctions for what it sees as “misinformation” about Russian forces on Ukrainian soil in what Moscow has called a “special military operation.”

The ban on Euronews follows Moscow’s blocking of the Facebook and Instagram platforms on Monday following a Russian court decision that has declared them “extremist” organizations.

The two services are already blocked in Russia, although the WhatsApp messaging service, which also belongs to the American group Meta, has not been affected by the ruling, according to the court.

A Moscow court on Monday banned the social networks Facebook and Instagram in Russia on the grounds that they carried out ” extremist ” activities, Russian news agencies reported.

“We agree to the prosecutor’s request to prohibit the activities of the Meta company,” the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, the judge said, according to the agencies.

The social networks managed by Meta are “prohibited for extremist activity”, the court added.

The messaging application WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, is not affected by this measure, since the court found that it is not used as a means of “public dissemination of information”.

The Russian security services, the FSB, had on Monday demanded an “immediate” ban on Facebook and Instagram, accusing them of activities “directed against Russia and its armed forces”.

On March 11, the prosecution had asked to classify Meta as an “extremist” organization, a move that paved the way for a ban on all its activities in Russia.

This request followed Meta’s decision to relax its rules on violent postings against the Russian military and leaders in connection with Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine.

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have already been blocked in Russia, where they are almost inaccessible except using a virtual private network (VPN).

Since the beginning of the Russian intervention in Ukraine on February 24, the government has tightened control of information disseminated on the Internet, one of the last spaces to express oneself freely in the country.