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Govt to close toll booths within 60 km of national highways; I-T dept conducts raids at Hiranandani group; Russia bans Facebook, Instagram

The Income Tax department conducted raids at Hiranandani group at 24 locations across Chennai, Bengaluru, and Mumbai in the foreign assets case. In Lok Sabha, Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said that all toll collecting points which are within 60 kilometre of each other on the national highways will be closed in the next three months. Meanwhile, a Russian court banned Meta-controlled Facebook and Instagram in the country on March 21, calling its parent company “extremist.”

Instagram No Longer Accessible in Russia Amid War With Ukraine

Instagram

Instagram is no longer accessible in Russia, news agency AFP reported earlier today. The development was inevitable as users of the platform in the country were notified of the upcoming situation. Instagram had said that its services in Russia amid the war with Ukraine would be shut post midnight. The platform’s head, Adam Mosseri, had said that the decision would cut 80 million users in Vladamir Putin-governed Russia, where the platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok also remain highly popular.

The development comes days after Reuters claimed that Meta is seemingly changing its security practices to allow “Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion.” The report stated that Meta-owned platforms like Instagram would allow some posts to call for Russian President Vladamir Putin’s death. The Russian administration, as expected, did not welcome the changes and even decided to deem Meta as an “extremist organisation”.

Source: https://www.news18.com/news/tech/instagram-no-longer-accessible-in-russia-amid-war-with-ukraine-4872563.html

Russia will ban Instagram in the country from March 14, citing ‘calls for violence against Russians’ on the platform

Vladimir Putin’s government is clamping down on social media use in Russia.Mikhail Klimentyev/AP, Jenny Kane/AP

Russia’s communications agency Roskomnadzor announced that it will ban Instagram in the country from March 14, according to a statement on the agency’s website.

The statement, which was released on Friday, reads: “Roskomnadzor decided to complete the procedure for imposing restrictions on access to Instagram at 00:00 on March 14, providing users with an additional 48 hours of transition period.”

The announcement comes a week after Russia blocked access to Facebook. The communications agency said that decision was a result of Meta making “an unprecedented decision by allowing the posting of information containing calls for violence against Russian citizens.”

Meta did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment made outside of normal working hours.

Source : https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/russia-will-ban-instagram-in-the-country-from-march-14-citing-calls-for-violence-against-russians-on-the-platform/articleshow/90169705.cms?utm_source=social_Whatsapp&utm_medium=social_sharing&utm_campaign=Click_through_social_share

Facebook temporarily allows posts on Ukraine war calling for violence against invading Russians or Putin’s death

Meta Platforms (FB.O) will allow Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion, according to internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday, in a temporary change to its hate speech policy.

The social media company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in countries including Russia, Ukraine and Poland, according to internal emails to its content moderators.

“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders.’ We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

The calls for the leaders’ deaths will be allowed unless they contain other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method, one email said, in a recent change to the company’s rules on violence and incitement.

The temporary policy changes on calls for violence to Russian soldiers apply to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine, according to one email.

In the email recently sent to moderators, Meta highlighted a change in its hate speech policy pertaining both to Russian soldiers and to Russians in the context of the invasion.

“We are issuing a spirit-of-the-policy allowance to allow T1 violent speech that would otherwise be removed under the Hate Speech policy when: (a) targeting Russian soldiers, EXCEPT prisoners of war, or (b) targeting Russians where it’s clear that the context is the Russian invasion of Ukraine (e.g., content mentions the invasion, self-defense, etc.),” it said in the email.

“We are doing this because we have observed that in this specific context, ‘Russian soldiers’ is being used as a proxy for the Russian military. The Hate Speech policy continues to prohibit attacks on Russians,” the email stated.

Last week, Russia said it was banning Facebook in the country in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on the platform. Moscow has cracked down on tech companies, including Twitter (TWTR.N), which said it is restricted in the country, during its invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a “special operation.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-facebook-instagram-temporarily-allow-calls-violence-against-russians-2022-03-10/