Lauge Risom Koch 
Russian courts have begun sentencing people over Facebook and Instagram links published years before Meta was designated an extremist organization, a move legal experts say could significantly expand enforcement of Russia’s extremism laws.
Russian authorities have begun arresting people for old Facebook and Instagram links published years before Meta was designated an “extremist organization,” according to The Moscow Times, citing the Center for the Defense of Mass Media Rights Foundation.
The cases, all emerging in St. Petersburg, have raised concerns among legal experts that Russia is expanding its interpretation of extremism laws to include hyperlinks to banned social media platforms.
Old posts targeted
According to The Moscow Times, at least three people have been arrested since July 10 over posts published between 2018 and 2021, before a Moscow court declared Meta’s activities “extremist” in 2022.
Urban preservation activist Oleg Mukhin and St. Petersburg lawmaker Ivan Apostolevsky were each sentenced to 10 days in jail over Facebook and Instagram links contained in old VKontakte posts. Authorities argued that publishing the links amounted to publicly displaying or promoting extremist symbols.
On July 14, activist and A Just Russia candidate Yaroslav Kostrov also received a 10-day sentence over a 2021 post containing links to the social media platforms. His lawyer, Irina Bakhanovich, said Kostrov was not an administrator of the community where the post appeared.
If the rulings enter into force, Apostolevsky and Kostrov will be barred from running in elections for one year.
New legal precedent?
According to The Moscow Times, citing the Center for the Defense of Mass Media Rights Foundation, previous enforcement of Russia’s extremism legislation generally focused on Meta’s logos and other visual symbols rather than hyperlinks.
The report noted that Ural human rights activist Alexei Sokolov was sentenced earlier this month to two years of forced labor for using the Facebook logo in Telegram posts.
Legal experts told the foundation that if the St. Petersburg rulings are upheld, they could establish a new legal precedent under which links to Facebook and Instagram are treated as the public display of extremist symbols.
The foundation also referred to a 2024 ruling by Russia’s Constitutional Court, which held that online publications constitute a continuing offense if prohibited content remains publicly accessible. It added that authorities may also rely on Russia’s information law, which prohibits distributing links to websites included in the country’s register of banned resources.
Sources: The Moscow Times, Center for the Defense of Mass Media Rights Foundation
