Musings From Abroad

Putin’s Russia takes war to social media, bans Facebook, Instagram, for being ‘extremist’

Published

1 year ago

March 22, 2022

Russia has taken its clampdown on the traditional media to the social media, after a court on Monday, placed a ban on Facebook and Instagram, claiming that the two platforms are “extremist.”

The ban on the new media platforms are part of sweeping efforts by Moscow to crack down on social media during the conflict in Ukraine.

Before the ban, the Russian authorities had accused the U.S. tech giant, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, of tolerating what it termed as “Russophobia” since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on February 24.

The Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court acceded to a request from prosecutors for the two social media platforms to be banned for “carrying out extremist activities” just as the two platforms have been inaccessible in Russia since early March and Instagram was blocked in the country.

In the judgement, the court ruled that Meta’s WhatsApp messenger service would not be prohibited because it is not used to post public statements.

During Monday’s court hearing, Russia’s FSB security service accused Meta of working against the interests of Moscow and its army during the conflict.

“The activities of the Meta organization are directed against Russia and its armed forces,” FSB representative Igor Kovalevsky told the court.

“We ask the court to ban Meta’s activities and oblige it to implement this ruling immediately,” he said.

Meta had announced on March 10 that the platforms would allow statements like “death to Russian invaders” but not credible threats against civilians, but in what appeared to be damage control, Meta’s global affairs president, Nick Clegg, later said the laxer rules would only apply to people posting from inside Ukraine.

In a statement before the ruling, a Meta representative has said that “following public debate” the company had now changed its policy and deemed that “Russophobia and calls for violence against Russian citizens are unacceptable.”

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has come down hard on the media with its regulator, Roskomnadzor, earlier blocking access to euronews.com, the website of the French channel Euronews, and its Russian version, ru.euronews.com, at the request of the prosecutor’s office.

Earlier this month Roskomnadzor also blocked access to the BBC’s main news website, with Moscow’s Foreign Ministry warning of more retaliatory measures against the media.

Before the ban, Facebook and Instagram were widely used in Russia and the latter was the most popular social media platform among young Russians.

Instagram was also a key platform for advertising, processing sales and communicating with clients for small businesses in the country.

Related Topics:Facebook Featured Instagram Russia

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Musings From Abroad

Angola, Portugal sign 13-point pact spanning finance, law, others

Published

2 days ago

June 6, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Angola and Portugal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding including 13 different agreements that cut across financial, legal and other critical areas.

The Angolan President, João Lourenço, who received his Portuguese counterpart, António Costa on Monday, revealed that the country was enthusiastic about partnering with its erstwhile colonialist.

“I have to say that we sensed a great willingness to collaborate on the part of the Portuguese justice system, with whom we were able to exchange not only information but also the alignment of Angola’s anti-corruption strategy and to say that in principle everything that was asked of the Portuguese authorities so that we could find the right correspondent”, president Lourenço said.

The Portuguese president announced a rise in its financial commitment to Angola which is a top oil producer in Africa.

“To support the Angolan government’s ambition and strategic approach to diversifying the country’s economy, we have significantly increased the credit line from one thousand five hundred to two billion euros”, announced Costa.

The new agreement will run till 2027. The economies of Angola and Portugal are deeply intertwined, and the two countries share a language and cultural heritage.

According to consular statistics, approximately 100,000 Portuguese nationals work in Angola, with approximately 10,000 Portuguese firms operating in a variety of sectors such as construction, engineering, hospitality, law, and financial services.

Musings From Abroad

Israeli PM, Netanyahu demands investigation over killing of soldiers in Egypt

Published

3 days ago

June 5, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has called for an explanation from Egyptian authorities following the reported killing of three Israeli soldiers by a member of the Egyptian security services.

He told his cabinet in televised remarks that “Israel relayed a clear message to the Egyptian government. We expect that the joint investigation will be exhaustive and thorough.

“We will refresh procedures and methods of operations and also the measures to reduce to a minimum the smuggling and to ensure tragic terrorist attacks like this do not happen again.”

Three Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack near Egypt’s border by a gunman wearing an Egyptian police uniform— the first deadly exchange along the border shared by the two countries in more than a decade.

According to the Israeli military, two soldiers were killed by an Egyptian policeman while securing a military post near the Egyptian border early Saturday. According to the report, the Egyptian officer and a third Israeli soldier were killed in a clash on Israeli territory hours later.

Israeli military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, while addressing journalists, said: “From that moment a terrorist event was declared, leading to sweeps of the area.”

He also revealed that “a drone was sent up and 1.5 kilometres inside Israel a suspicious person was identified.”

Egypt’s relationship with Israel is complicated and has evolved significantly over time. Despite having fought four wars, the two countries now work closely together, primarily on security issues.