Meta is taking steps to give parents and guardians more oversight of their teens' activities on Instagram and Quest — implementing changes it had announced in recent months.
The ruling amounts to an immediate ban of Facebook and Instagram in Russia, where both platforms are already blocked. WhatsApp, which is owned by the same company, is still allowed.
Sister app Instagram is also launching new parental controls, as the social media company faces pressure to address safety risks to kids in virtual reality.
Russia's top prosecutor called for Facebook and Instagram's parent company to be labeled an extremist group after Meta said it would permit some calls for violence against "Russian invaders."
Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft are taking steps to curb Russian propaganda, but they don't want to be kicked out of the country and limit Russians' access to their platforms.
Facebook parent company Meta says it has uncovered Russian efforts to undermine trust in the Ukrainian government and to hack Ukrainian military officials and journalists using social media.
Investors wiped more than $250 billion off the market value of Facebook owner Meta after the company warned competition from TikTok is weighing on growth.
Social media companies will feel pressure from Washington, European regulators and even their own users over kids' safety and privacy, competition and election-related misinformation.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram says the firms used its platforms to spy on human rights activists, government critics, celebrities and journalists in more than 100 countries.
Takeaways from a hearing include: senators are frustrated with Instagram for not moving more quickly to protect young users and the CEO maintains the platform does more good than harm.
The announcement follows Rittenhouse's recent acquittal for last year's shooting in Kenosha, Wis. The company is also lifting restrictions that blocked his name in certain search results.
A bipartisan group of state attorneys general accuses the company of prioritizing its own growth while failing to protect kids and teens, and even manipulating them to keep them on the app longer.
Facebook will no longer let advertisers target people with ads based on how interested the social network thinks they are in topics like politics, religion, or race. The new rules begin in January.
