An official Facebook page attached to the Russian Foreign Ministry, suspended for posting "
illegal content
", was restored on Monday (January 17) after protests from Moscow, Russian diplomacy said.
Read alsoRussia protests after the suspension of an official Facebook page
"
Our account has been restored
", announced the head of the Russian delegation in Vienna, Konstantin Gavrilov, specifying that the official page of this delegation, suspended since Friday, is again operational after the intervention of the Russian telecoms policeman, Roskomnadzor.
“
We have not received any explanation
” from Meta, the Californian web giant that owns Facebook, added Konstantin Gavrilov, quoted by Russian news agencies.
“An act of censorship”
Roskomnadzor said on Sunday evening that he had sent a letter to Meta, demanding "
the immediate lifting of restrictions on the official account
" of the Russian delegation in Vienna in charge of the arms control talks. The suspension of this account "
is an act of censorship
" which "
violates the essential principle of the free flow of information
", underlined Roskomnadzor. The Facebook page in question was suspended Friday on the grounds that it had published "
illegal content
", according to Konstantin Gavrilov.
The latter told the TASS news agency on Sunday that the delegation only used the page to publish official statements from Russian officials.
Contacted by AFP, the Meta group, led by Mark Zuckerberg, did not respond immediately.
In February 2021, the Twitter account of the same delegation was suspended.
For its part, Russia has in recent years strengthened its control over the Internet, the last space where critical voices were still expressed with relative freedom in the country.
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The Russian authorities regularly sanction large digital companies, especially foreign ones, accused of not erasing content deemed dangerous for minors or linked to the opposition.
On December 24, Russia sentenced Google and Meta to record fines of 87 million and 23 million euros (7.2 and 1.9 billion rubles) for failing to remove "
illegal
" content.
A Moscow court found them guilty of "
recidivist
".
For the first time, the two Californian giants have therefore been sentenced to fines calculated on the basis of their annual income in Russia.