MOSCOW: Russia's financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring has added US tech giant Meta to its list of "terrorists and extremists", Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday.

In June, a Moscow court rejected Meta's appeal after the company was found guilty of "extremist activity" in Russia in March. META's lawyer told the court at the time that META was not involved in extremist activities and was opposed to Russophobia. On Tuesday, Meta did not respond to an email requesting comment.

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The list maintained by Rosfinmonitoring includes "organizations and individuals who have information about extremist activities or their involvement in terrorism."

Moscow has restricted access to Facebook and Instagram, although many Russian users continue to access them via virtual private networks (VPNs), which have become increasingly popular since some Western Internet services were blocked in March. went.

On Tuesday, the state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has updated its list of prohibited VPNs, according to the TASS news agency. It began attempting to block VPNs in 2021, although several are ongoing. Officials have repeatedly said that Meta's "extremist" label does not apply to its WhatsApp messenger service.

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"Rossfinmonitoring's decision to include Meta on the list of extremist organizations has no effect on users of Meta's social network; users of Meta products are not breaking the law," senior lawmaker Andrey Klishas wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.

"WhatsApp Messenger has no limits," he said.

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However, lawyers and digital rights organizations have reported that some Facebook and Instagram users are being warned about certain posts.

Human rights lawyer, Pavel Chikov, has warned that simply displaying the Instagram and Facebook logos, or advertising on those platforms, may be considered illegal under Russian law.