Russia blocks access to Google News service

Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has blocked the Google News service in the country for access to numerous materials containing unreliable information about Moscow's ongoing war in Ukraine, media reports say.

The access to the online resource news.google.com has been blocked, the telecoms regulator told Interfax on Wednesday.

"Based on a request from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, Roskomnadzor has restricted access to the Internet service News.Google in the country," the statement said.

"The mentioned US Internet news resource provided access to numerous publications and materials containing unreliable, publicly significant information about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine," it added.

Recently, Russia blocked Instagram for nearly 80 million users in the country, after its parent company Meta allowed posts with calls for violence against Russian soldiers and President Vladimir Putin on Facebook and Instagram in some countries.

The social media platform was inaccessible for the vast majority of the country's population, according to internet monitoring service GlobalCheck.

Russian influencers on Instagram posted farewell messages to their followers, asking them to follow them on other social media platforms, or download VPN (virtual private network) software to bypass the ban.

Instagram has also provided a platform for Russians to speak out against the war, including wealthy oligarchs and their families.