It is possible that paying for Facebook services through a third party will be qualified as financing an extremist organization

Instagram Facebook Today, March 21, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow recognized the activities of the Meta Platform company as extremist and banned the operation of its Facebook and Instagram services in Russia. We asked a representative of the Semenov & Pevzner law firm to briefly explain what this means.

Roman Lukyanov, Managing Partner of Semenov&Pevzner Law Firm

I will note right away that all the information I share below is preliminary. Details will be clarified later. So, let’s go:

• You can mention Meta Platforms only with a note that this organization is recognized as extremist. For example: “the organization’s activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation.” If there are several mentions in the material, then each one is marked.
• Facebook Instagram symbols are not recommended. Formally, the use of attributes or symbols of extremist organizations falls under the description of the term “Extremism“.

At the same time, the symbolism is understood to be the one described in the constituent documents of the organization. To date, it is unknown whether the description of this symbolism is contained in the founding documents of the organization. In addition, there is no definition of the term “attributes” in the Law itself.

Instagram Facebook and Instagram logos should not be used by Russian companies (including in the form of links on websites) in the light of such legal uncertainty.

It is unclear whether the law will be retroactive. Most likely not (that is, it’s probably not worth running and adding an asterisk with a clarification to every article or post mentioning Zuckerberg’s company), but I still recommend an audit (for example, removing links to blocked services from current landing pages).

• Any payments in favor of Meta Platforms, which is recognized as extremist in Russia, are prohibited. In accordance with Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the provision of funds to support the activities of an extremist organization entails a penalty associated with imprisonment of up to 10 years.

Important: the issue of making payments in favor of Meta Platforms through a third party or from a foreign jurisdiction requires additional study. Previously, it can be assumed that payment through a third party can also be qualified as financing of an extremist organization.