Facebook's ‘Pride reactions’ are still unavailable in Russia, but now users can see the rainbows, at least

Earlier this month, Facebook added a special “rainbow flag” reaction to celebrate Pride Month. To access the Pride reaction, users just need to click “like” on the network’s LGBTQ community page, and the reaction option then appears for any Facebook post.

In Russia, however, the “rainbow like” isn’t an option. Since June 9, when the new reactions were first announced, Russian Facebook users have said they’re unable to access the new rainbow reactions, even after liking the LGBTQ page.

On Friday, June 16, Russians started reporting that they can finally see rainbow reactions by other users, but they say they still cannot leave such reactions themselves.

• Since 2013, Russia has banned “propaganda” of so-called “non-traditional sexual orientations” in the presence of minors. Under the law, companies held responsible for disseminating “gay propaganda” online in Russia are subject to fines as high as 1 million rubles ($17,300).