Facebook owner Meta said on Monday it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, claiming the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert influence operations online.
"After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity," the social media company said in a written statement.
Enforcement of the ban would roll out over the coming days, it said. In addition to Facebook, Meta's apps include Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The ban marks a sharp escalation in actions by the world's biggest social media company against Russian state media, after it spent years taking more limited steps like blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts.
It came after the United States filed money-laundering charges earlier this month against two RT employees for what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 election.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that countries should treat the activities of Russian state broadcaster RT as they do covert intelligence operations.
RT has mocked the U.S. actions and accused the United States of trying to prevent the broadcaster from operating as a journalistic organization.
In briefing materials shared with Reuters, Meta said it had seen Russian state-controlled media try to evade detection in their online activities in the past and expected them to continue trying to engage in deceptive practices going forward.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
6 Comments
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Eastmann
ok and so what?
is this like freedom of speach looks like?
Zaphod
"There Was No Time In History Where The People Censoring Free Speech Were The Good Guys."
(Robert F. Kennedy Jr.)
konjo4u
Isn't it banned in Russia? Why would Russian state actors be using it if it is banned there?
MiuraAnjin
A key difference between first world and second world (i.e. Soviet Bloc) nations during the Cold War was that back then we were free to listen to Radio Moscow, Radio Berlin International and the (hilarious) Radio Tirana, because our governments trusted us to hear both sides of a story and make our own minds up. Of course the Soviets blocked the BBC World Service, VOA etc. because they preferred to keep their citizens in the dark.
We seem to have given up this moral high ground however. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine the governments of the EU, UK and USA blocked Russian Media causing Putin to retaliate. Now private Western companies are following suit.
Are we no longer allowed to discern fact from fiction ourselves?