Russia court bans Facebook, Instagram on ‘extremism’ charges

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court has banned Facebook and Instagram for what it deemed extremist activity in a case against their parent company, Meta. The court on Monday fulfilled a request from prosecutors to outlaw Meta Platforms Inc. and ban Facebook and Instagram for what they called “extremist activities.” Prosecutors have accused the social media platforms of ignoring government requests to remove what they described as fake news about the military action in Ukraine. Meta declined to comment. Prosecutors haven’t requested to ban the Meta-owned messaging services WhatsApp. Instagram and Facebook were already blocked in Russia after authorities said they were being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers.