Russian citizens were on Friday facing an information blackout on the war in Ukraine after the Kremlin blocked Facebook and Twitter and passed a law threatening 15-year prison sentences for those sharing “fake news”.
It came hours after access to the BBC was restricted in Russia after the country’s parliament on Friday announced it would impose jail time for those spreading information that goes against the government’s narrative on the invasion.
Facebook and Twitter were later taken down by Russia’s communications regulator as Moscow sought to silence news sources not sanctioned by the government.
The White House said on Friday it was “deeply concerned” about Russia’s blocking of Facebook. “This is part of their effort to cut off a range of information from their public,” said spokesperson Jen Psaki.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, meanwhile, said the company “will do everything it can to restore services.”
“Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out,” he said in a statement released on Friday evening.
The latest moves by Moscow was in retaliation for the social media giants’ “discrimination” of the state media, in a crackdown that has already seen thousands of middle class Russians flee the country in disgust over the invasion and fear of economic collapse.
“Since October 2020, 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook have been recorded,” the media watchdog wrote in a statement announcing the ban on Friday.
As the BBC suspended its operations, Tim Davie, the director-general, said the new Kremlin law would “criminalise the process of independent journalism”. He said: “It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff within the Russian Federation.
“The safety of our staff is paramount and we are not prepared to expose them to the risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs.” Staff will not be pulled out, the BBC has said, because many who have been flown in are not correspondents but Russian citizens in their own country.
Mr Davie paid tribute to the work of those in Russia, and said the BBC would continue to report on developments from outside the country’s borders.
BBC website restricted
The BBC website has been restricted by Russian authorities, along with a number of other foreign websites.
To avoid falling foul of the law, media in Russia will have to parrot the Kremlin, which has banned the use of the words “war” or “invasion” to describe the conflict, and has claimed that Ukraine is attacking its own cities.
Vladimir Putin described the Russian bombardment of large cities as “fake news” in a call with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor.
Mr Putin added in a speech: “I want to emphasise again that we have no bad intentions towards our neighbours.”
Novaya Gazeta, the Russian independent newspaper, said it would remove content about Ukraine from its website in light of the legislation. The paper said: “Military censorship in Russia has quickly moved to a new phase: to the threat of criminal prosecution. There is no doubt that this threat will be fulfilled.”
Media inside Russia have already faced a clampdown, with the opposition radio station Ekho Moskvy being dissolved, and Dozdh, Russia’s last independent TV station, being shut down.
Moscow is reportedly planning to introduce martial law, which would allow authorities to ration food, detain foreigners and close borders.
Russians who opposed Mr Putin’s invasion are trying to flee before such a measure can be brought in.
Anya, who declined to give her last name, said she had flown to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. She said she was devastated to leave but had no choice.
