UPDATE 3: Russian crt decides not to drop, delay case against Meta

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MOSCOW, Mar 21 (PRIME) -- The Tverskoi District Court of Moscow rejected on Monday a request of Meta Platforms, owners of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, to terminate and delay proceedings on a lawsuit on the ban of the company’s business due to its extremist activities.

A Meta spokesperson earlier said that only a court having jurisdiction over the plaintiff can consider a lawsuit against Meta Platforms.

“We ask to terminate proceedings on the case: the court is not authorized to hear it, Meta is a foreign company, and the lawsuit is to be considered by court at place of registration,” the lawyer said.

The lawyer also requested the court postpone the hearing since the lawyers had learnt about the 300-page case too late and did not have the time to prepare.

“We should present our position, but such a pace deprives us of fair procedural guarantees.”

Meta Platforms earlier lifted a ban on calls to violence against the Russian military in Ukraine, but not against the civilians temporarily in its networks Facebook and Instagram. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office then raised the issue of recognition Meta as an extremist institution.

The Prosecutor General’s Office asked the court “to ban Meta’s offers of products Facebook and Instagram due to the execution of extremist actions, but not to WhatsApp because of the absence of a function of public distribution of information.”

The prosecutors also said in the lawsuit that extremism has been earlier present on Facebook and Instagram and “photos of Adolf Hitler, Nazi emblems, religious extremism, calls to unapproved rallies were in public access.”

With the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine in late February, the social networks have contained multiple propaganda materials with calls to kill Russians, including the military, the prosecutors said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said that in case of Meta’s ban, the users of Facebook and Instagram will not be punished for skirting it.

“The people will not be brought to justice only for their use of Meta’s products,” the office said.

The Federal Security Service and the communications service supported the prosecutors’ lawsuit seeking to forbid Meta’s activities in the country.

“Meta’s policy is aimed against the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, including the military,” a Federal Security Service representative said.

A representative of the communications watchdog also pointed to “multiple violations” and a refusal to delete the content banned in Russia.

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