Russian Investigative Committee opens extremism case against Meta employees

MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - A criminal case of extremism has been initiated against employees of Meta Platforms, Inc., in light of their illegal actions, the Russian Investigative Committee said.

"A criminal case has been opened at the Main Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee in light of unlawful calls for violence against citizens of the Russian Federation by employees of the U.S. company Meta, which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram," the press service for the Investigative Committee said in a statement obtained by Interfax on Friday.

"The company's spokesperson Andy Stone said on the social network that Meta has temporarily lifted a ban on calls for violence against Russian troops on its platforms, describing it as a form of political self-expression," the press service said.

"The aforementioned actions contain elements of crimes under articles 280 and 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (public calls for extremist actions and abetting terrorism)," it said.

"Necessary investigative measures aimed at giving a legal assessment to the actions of Andy Stone and other employees of the American corporation are underway" as part of the criminal case, it said.