Russian Court Refuses to Close or Delay Case Against Meta, After Company Demands Hearing in US

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A Russian court has no right to consider a claim filed by the Russian Procesutor General's Office against Meta, as only a court at the place of registration — which is in the United States — is entitled to do so, a company representative said on Monday, asking to stop the proceedings.

A Russian court refused to close an extremism case against Meta on Monday, and denied a request from Meta's legal team to delay the proceedings.

Lawyers for the tech giant previously claimed that the Russian court has no right to examine the claim against Facebook and Instagram, since Meta is a foreign company.

"We ask you to stop the proceedings on the case: the court does not have the authority to consider it, Meta is a foreign company, and the claim must be considered at the place of its registration", the representative told a district court in Moscow.

Last week, a Moscow district court told Sputnik that it had received a statement from the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia on the recognition of Meta as an extremist organisation in the wake of the company allowing the publication of calls for violence against the Russian military on its social media platforms amid the military operation in Ukraine.

In the meantime, the Russian information watchdog Roscomnadzor has suspended access to Instagram in the country. The authority, however, stressed that WhatsApp won't be affected by the measures introduced against the company, since it is a messenger.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, Russians will not be prosecuted for bypassing the ban on Meta products.

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