Limit Ads over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine- As pressure builds up on technology companies to respond to Russia’s attack on Ukraine; Facebook and YouTube have blocked Russian state media from showing advertisements on their networks. For instance, Twitter has blocked all kind of promotion in Ukraine and Russia.
“We are now blocking Russian state media from placing advertisement or monetization on our platform anywhere else in the world,” Facebook’s head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher tweeted on Friday.
Announcement by Social Media Companies to limit Ads
On 26 of February, YouTube announced that many Russian government news organizations, including RT, would no longer be able to earn profit from commercials on YouTube. According to a YouTube official, the online video service is also reducing suggestions for specific channels and blocking them completely in Ukraine now; after demand of the Ukrainian government.
Late Saturday, Google also announced that it was also “pausing” the capability of Russian government media to earn from Google’s advertising services.
Google’s official Michael Aciman said, “We’re actively monitoring new developments and will take further steps if necessary.”
Moreover, Twitter limit ads from government media in 2019. But still it followed suit on Friday, announcing that all advertisements in Ukraine and Russia would be temporarily paused “to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads do not detract from it”.
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The advertisement bans come as the Kremlin continues to tighten its hold on communication and restrict opposition, putting pressure on American internet companies.
Russia’s communications authority criticized Facebook of blocking the official accounts of Zvezda, the Russian defence ministry’s TV channel; the government RIA Novosti news organization, and two news websites, Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru, on Friday. The regulator said it was restricting access to Facebook in Russia in response; for what it termed violation of Russian law and human rights.
In response, Meta’s vice president of global relations, Nick Clegg, stated that Russian authorities had instructed the organization; to stop labelling and fact-checking content from four Russian government media outlets.
“We rejected the offer. As a result, they’ve declared that they’ll be restricting access to our services “In a statement, Clegg said. “Our apps are being used by common Russians to express themselves and organize for actions. We want them to use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger to keep their voices recognized, communicate what’s going on, and organize”.
Facebook Limit Ads
It’s unclear what the Kremlin’s limits on the world’s most popular social platform would involve; or whether they’ll apply to Meta’s other programmes, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. While Facebook doesn’t really reveal the number of users in Russia; a poll last year found that 9 percent of respondents used the social media network and 31% used Instagram.
Twitter announced on Saturday that it is “restricting access for some individuals in Russia”. Twitter adds that it is “trying to maintain our services secure and accessible”.
Russia blocked access to Twitter last year after the organization reportedly refused to remove some remarks, and threatened to do the same to Facebook and Google. Meta was fined 2 billion rubles ($27 million) by a Russian court in December; for delaying to delete content that Russia claims breaches its laws.
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