Facebook temporarily suspends Russia’s space agency chief after comments attacking former U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul

Earlier this week, Facebook reportedly suspended the account of Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s national space agency, after he criticized the American political scientist and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. In tweets on January 23, McFaul expressed support for nationwide opposition protests demanding Alexey Navalny’s freedom, leading to a heated exchange with Rogozin, another former diplomat.

Rogozin continued his criticism on Facebook, writing, “You, ladies and gentlemen of America, are so full of yourselves. Don’t lecture us. You’re a lousy teacher, and you’ve made a mess of the whole world over. We’ll deal with our country’s affairs ourselves.”

A few hours after he posted these words, Rogozin says his post was hidden from other users and Facebook’s administration notified him that he was suspended from publishing new content for the next 24 hours.

Rogozin’s Facebook page remained accessible to readers and his criticism of McFaul later reappeared, but the network left the temporary suspension in place, Rogozin said in a separate post on his Telegram channel.