They block propaganda of the government agencies of a country that is currently in the middle of hostile, widely condemned by the West, military operations in another sovereign European country.
It's also likely they blocked it because then non-state approved opinions about war can circulate more easily. They already shut down those few more free media that were left so it makes sense that they would crack down on alternative platforms too.
Also Twitter followed the same fate. I wonder whether "normal" people, those using FB but who have no idea of how to access the BBC via Tor, and that might support Putin, will see through such a huge ban.
This is a pretty strange take given the context. It’s the same 0 value “Facebook = bad” top comment which HN is often criticized for.
“Facebook gets banned because it allows the truth of the Ukrainian conflict to spread” highlights that despite many serious flaws, there may be some good in a platform which allows information to spread peer to peer.
I realize mine is an unpopular view. To be clear, I do not support Putin nor the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I just find it uncomfortable that so many are suddenly willing to look the other way while Ukraine employs militant Nazi battalions in their own national guard.
I also find it unsettling that all of a sudden Facebook unbanned the Azov Brigade, a known terrorist organization, but only as long as they are fighting against Russia [0]. Principles are principles and I can't support this kind of hypocracy.
It's interesting that militant Nazi battalions are "the good guys" compared to the Russian invaders. Last time this matchup went down the Russians were the righteous. It's about survival for Ukraine, nothing else matters.
Fair enough, but being on HN, I sincerely doubt you are a typical russian internet user.
Most Russian people I met only used vkontakte, and only used facebook because they either had a company to promote internationally, or studied abroad, somehow didn't end up in a typical russians-abroad clique, and wanted facebook "on the side" to keep in touch with their international friends (who are obviously not gonna be on vkontakte).
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 79.9 ms ] threadFacebook got banned because they blocked Russian state media pages
they don't like that literally anybody on Facebook is allowed to post propaganda but them
They block propaganda of the government agencies of a country that is currently in the middle of hostile, widely condemned by the West, military operations in another sovereign European country.
Afair, it was them censoring them in EU
Facebook: publishes propaganda
Russian state media: publishes propaganda
Facebook: blocks Russian state media so they can't publish propaganda
Russian government: blocks Facebook because Russian state media can't publish propaganda and Facebook publishes propaganda
2. Facebook banning individual accounts for violation of selectively interpreted „community guidelines“
3. Facebook manually tweaking the recommendation algorithm to promote some topics and not others
…
Still on a completely different level than Russian state-based propaganda, of course, but Facebook is not „just a neutral platform“
“Facebook gets banned because it allows the truth of the Ukrainian conflict to spread” highlights that despite many serious flaws, there may be some good in a platform which allows information to spread peer to peer.
FYI the Azov Brigade is a Neo-Nazi military unit fighting as an official part of the Ukrainian National guard.
https://theintercept.com/2022/02/24/ukraine-facebook-azov-ba...
I also find it unsettling that all of a sudden Facebook unbanned the Azov Brigade, a known terrorist organization, but only as long as they are fighting against Russia [0]. Principles are principles and I can't support this kind of hypocracy.
[0] https://theintercept.com/2022/02/24/ukraine-facebook-azov-ba...
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion
Most Russian people I met only used vkontakte, and only used facebook because they either had a company to promote internationally, or studied abroad, somehow didn't end up in a typical russians-abroad clique, and wanted facebook "on the side" to keep in touch with their international friends (who are obviously not gonna be on vkontakte).