Russia finds Meta guilty of ‘extremist activity’ but WhatsApp can stay

March 21 (Reuters) – A Moscow court said on Monday that Meta (FB.O) was guilty of “extremist activity”, but the ruling will not affect its WhatsApp messenger service, focusing on the U.S. firm’s already banned Facebook and Instagram social networks.

Meta did not respond to requests for comment after Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court said in a press statement that it had upheld a lawsuit filed by state prosecutors on banning the company’s activities on Russian territory.

Meta’s lawyer Victoria Shagina had earlier told the court that the company was not carrying out extremist activities and was against Russophobia, the Interfax news agency reported.

It was not clear whether Meta would appeal the outlawing of the activities of Facebook and Instagram in Russia “on the grounds of realising extremist activity”, a ban TASS cited judge Olga Solopova as saying would be enforced immediately.

Russia has in the past designated groups such as the Taliban and Islamic State as “extremist” but later expanded this to the Jehovah’s Witnesses and jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Facebook last year had 7.5 million users in Russia and WhatsApp had 67 million, researcher Insider Intelligence estimates, while Instagram has said its ban will affect 80 million users in Russia.

UKRAINE TENSIONS

The implications of the ruling remain unclear as Facebook and Instagram are already banned in Russia and the court said WhatsApp would be unaffected by its ruling.

“The decision does not apply to the activities of Meta’s messenger WhatsApp, due to its lack of functionality for the public dissemination of information,” the court said.

Russia initially banned Facebook for restricting access to Russian media while Instagram was blocked after Meta said it would allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages urging violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and troops Moscow sent into Ukraine on Feb. 24. read more

Russia calls the conflict a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from people it describes as dangerous nationalists.

Meta has since narrowed its guidance to prohibit calls for the death of a head of state and said its guidance should never be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general. read more

But the perceived threat to its citizens angered Russian authorities and led to the criminal case against Meta.

WHATSAPP’S FATE

It was not immediately clear how the WhatsApp messaging service would be able to continue operating, since the court has put a stop to Meta’s commercial activities.

Analysis of mobile internet traffic on Monday showed that Telegram, popular in Russia for a long time, has overtaken WhatsApp to become the country’s most used…