Ukraine invasion: Russia restricts access to Facebook

Russia has limited access to Facebook over the platform's stance on the accounts of several Moscow-backed news outlets amid the invasion of Ukraine.

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Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor accused the network of "censorship" and violating "the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens".

Facebook said it had refused to stop fact-checking and labelling content from state-owned news organisations.

The move came a day after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine.

It is unclear what the regulator restrictions mean, or to what extent Facebook's parent company Meta's other platforms - WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram are affected.

The regulator had demanded Facebook lift the restrictions it placed on Thursday on state news agency RIA, state TV channel Zvezda, and pro-Kremlin news sites Lenta.Ru and Gazeta.Ru.

Sir Nick Clegg, vice-president of global affairs at Meta, said Russian authorities "ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labelling" the outlets' content.

But he made clear he wanted Russians to continue to use Meta's platforms.

Many state-owned media outlets in Russia have painted a largely positive picture of Russian military advances in Ukraine, calling the invasion a "special military operation" that had been forced on Moscow.

On Thursday Meta said it had set up a "special operations centre" to monitor content about the conflict in Ukraine.