A Moscow court ruled on Monday that Meta was guilty of “extremist behaviour,” but the verdict will not affect the company’s WhatsApp messenger service, instead focusing on the already-banned Facebook and Instagram social networks.

Meta did not reply to demands for comment after the Tverskoi District Court in Moscow announced in a news release that it had upheld a complaint filed by state prosecutors to prohibit the company’s activities on Russian soil.

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According to the Interfax news agency, Meta’s lawyer Victoria Shakina previously told the court that the company was not involved in extremist activity and was opposed to Russophobia.

It was unclear whether Meta would appeal the ban on Facebook and Instagram activities in Russia “on the grounds of realising extremist activity,” which TASS quoted judge Olga Solopova as saying would take effect immediately.

According to news outlets, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator, announced late Monday that it will remove Meta from the list of foreign businesses operating on the Internet in Russia, as well as Instagram and Facebook from the register of social networks.

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Roskomnadzor further stated that Russian media must mark Meta and its social networks as illegal while disseminating information and are not permitted to show their logos.

Russia has previously labelled organisations such as the Taliban and the Islamic State as “extremist,” but has since broadened this to include the Jehovah’s Witnesses and imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.

According to researcher Insider Intelligence, Facebook had 7.5 million users in Russia last year and WhatsApp had 67 million, while Instagram has stated that the ban will effect 80 million users in Russia.

The ruling’s implications are unclear because Facebook and Instagram are already banned in Russia, and the court stated that its decision would have no effect on WhatsApp.

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“The decision does not apply to the activities of Meta’s messenger WhatsApp, due to its lack of functionality for the public dissemination of information,” the court said.

Russia first banned Facebook for limiting access to Russian media, while Instagram was stopped earlier this month after Meta stated that it would allow social media users in Ukraine to post comments advocating violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and troops dispatched by Moscow into Ukraine.

Russia describes the fighting as a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and defend it from “dangerous nationalists.”

Meta’s counsel has subsequently been adjusted to prevent demands for the death of a head of state, and it has stated that its guidance should never be understood as supporting violence against Russians in general.

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However, the perceived threat to its inhabitants infuriated Russian officials, resulting in the criminal prosecution against Meta.

It was not immediately clear how the WhatsApp messaging service would be able to continue operating, since the court has put a stop to Meta’s commercial activities.

Analysis of mobile internet traffic on Monday showed that Telegram, popular in Russia for a long time, has overtaken WhatsApp to become the country’s most used messaging tool in recent weeks.

The prosecution attempted to allay concerns that people who find ways to circumvent Meta’s service bans might face criminal charges.

“Individuals will not be prosecuted simply for using Meta’s services” the prosecutor said in court, according to TASS.

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However, human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov stated that neither the court nor the prosecutor could guarantee the safety of Facebook or Instagram users, and he warned that any public display of Meta symbols – on websites, shop entrances, or business cards – could result in administrative charges and up to 15 days in jail.

“Buying adverts on both social networks or trading Meta’s shares may qualify as financing extremism activity – this is a criminal offence,” he posted on Telegram.

According to Sarkis Darbinyan, head of the legal department at digital rights group Roskomsvoboda, WhatsApp may have been left alone due to the extent of its everyday use among Russians and by government agencies and state companies for customer support.

Another motivation is most likely to avoid any backlash.

“The government is trying not to close everything at once, but gradually, so that people slowly get used to it,” he told Reuters, referring to Instagram’s “unpopular” closure.

“We assume that services like WhatsApp could come under blocks at any moment,” Darbinyan continued.

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Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine has fueled a raging feud between foreign digital platforms and Moscow.

Access to Twitter has also been restricted, and on Friday Roskomnadzor demanded that Alphabet Inc’s Google cease spreading threats against Russian citizens on YouTube.

According to Anton Gorelkin, a member of Russia’s State Duma committee on information and communications who has criticised foreign corporations while promoting domestic alternatives, the Russian market may be opened up to Meta again, but only on Moscow’s terms.

“These are an immediate end to blocking Russian media, a return to the policy of neutrality, and strict moderation of fakes and anti-Russian comments,” Gorelkin stated on Telegram.

Another need, according to Gorelkin, is that Meta comply with a statute mandating international enterprises with more than 500,000 daily users to open Russian representative offices.