Access to Instagram has been officially blocked in Russia by a decision of regulator Roskomnadzor, Russian state media outlet TASS announced.  

The social network owned by Meta had its access blocked this Monday, the 14th, and the decision was justified by an alleged dissemination of hate speech against Russian users, writes Lusa news agency.

The regulator Roskomnadzor had already threatened to make this decision last week, and this was the reaction after Meta admitted that it would relax its policy against violent speech toward the Russian military.

Recall that in addition to Instagram, the Facebook and Twitter  are also not available to Russian Internet users. However, the Russian government suggests that Internet users subscribe to national social networks, such as VKontakt and Odnoklassniki.

The international human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the decision by several Western technology groups to restrict access to social networks in Russia could "exacerbate the risk of isolation for the country's residents."

"Thousands of Russians rely on the Internet for information on current affairs and to communicate with the outside world at a time of unprecedented government censorship," Hugh Williamson, HRW's Europe and Central Asia director, stressed in a statement.

In addition, Russia's withdrawal from the entities responsible for managing Internet domains and addresses could allow the Kremlin to "increase control over the Internet infrastructure," HRW warned.