No confirmation yet that Meta lifting ban on calls for violence against Russians - Duma member

MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - There is no confirmation yet to Western media reports, which say that Meta Platforms is planning to lift the ban on calls for violence against Russian soldiers in its network, Chairman of the State Duma Information Policy Committee Alexander Khinshtein said.

"There are no confirmations to these claims for now [...] Roskomnadzor [the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media] demanded last night that Meta either confirm or deny this information. A decision will be made by this evening," Khinshtein said at the State Duma on Friday.

A decision to block Meta portals may have to be made as a result of the check, he said.

"If these facts are confirmed, [...] there is no doubt that my colleagues and I will provide the state and government agencies with the necessary tools to firmly counter such phenomena. I mean both criminal proceedings and possible blocking of such networks, in addition to other measures," Khinshtein said.